VOA慢速英语2019 报告称埃航飞行员在坠毁前遵循了波音公司指令

Report: Ethiopian Pilots Followed Boeing Instructions Before Crash

The pilots of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 followed all of Boeing’s recommended steps when their plane began to nose dive shortly after takeoff. But they still could not stop the plane from crashing. Those are the early findings from a report released Thursday by the Ethiopian government.

埃航302航班飞行员在飞机起飞不久便开始俯冲时遵循了波音公司推荐的所有步骤，但是还是未能阻止飞机坠毁，这是埃塞俄比亚政府周四发布的报告的早期发现。

The Boeing 737 Max 8 jet crashed on March 10 just six minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa. All 157 passengers and crew members died.

这架波音737 Max 8 喷气式飞机于3月10日从亚的斯亚贝巴起飞仅6分钟后就发生坠毁，机上157名乘客和机组人员全部遇难。

The Ethiopian government said it based its report on flight data and cockpit voice recordings¹.

埃塞俄比亚政府称其报告是基于飞行数据和驾驶舱录音。

The plane’s builder, Boeing, said it could not comment until it studies the full report. The company’s 737 Max 8 jet has been criticized since a Lion Air flight crashed off the coast of Indonesia last October. That crash and the Ethiopian Airlines crash have several similarities, aviation experts say.

飞机制造商波音公司表示在研究完整报告之前无法发表评论。自去年10月狮航一架航班在印尼海岸坠毁以来，该公司的737 Max 8喷气式飞机一直饱受批评。航空专家表示，这次坠毁同埃航的坠机事件有几个相似之处。

At the center of the crash investigation² is the plane’s flight-control system. Boeing and U.S. officials have said that pilots could regain³ control in emergencies if they followed a series of steps. Those steps include turning off a system designed to prevent the plane from crashing. This anti-stall system is known as MCAS. It was designed especially for the Max model.

坠机调查的核心是该飞机的飞行控制系统。波音公司和美国官员表示，如果飞行员遵循一系列操作，他们就能在紧急状况下重新获得飞机控制权。这些操作包括关闭旨在防止飞机坠毁的一个系统。这个防失速系统被称为MCAS（自动防失速系统），它是专门为Max机型设计的。

Ethiopian investigators⁴ did not name the MCAS system in their report. But they recommended that Boeing examine “the aircraft flight control system related to the flight controllability.” They also recommended that aviation officials confirm that issues have been fully⁵ addressed before permitting Max planes to fly again.

埃塞俄比亚调查人员在报告中并未提到自动防失速系统，但是他们建议波音公司检查“与飞机可控性相关的飞机飞控系统。”他们还建议航空官员在再次批准Max机型飞行之前，确认这些问题已经被完全解决。

Boeing’s 737 Max planes are currently not permitted to fly anywhere in the world. Boeing is working to fix the model’s anti-stall system. The change must be approved by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other regulators.

波音公司的737 Max飞机目前在全球禁飞。该公司正在努力修复该机型的防失速系统，这一改动必须得到美国联邦航空管理局以及其它监管机构的批准。

The FAA said Monday that it expects Boeing’s final software improvements for 737 Max airliners⁶ “in the coming weeks.”

美国联邦航空管理局周一表示，预计波音公司会在未来几个星期发布最终版软件升级。

The report did not say whether Ethiopian officials were seeking only those software improvements or whether they want a larger update to the Max’s flight controls.

该报告没有说明埃塞俄比亚官员是否只是寻求软件改进，还是想要对Max机型的飞控系统进行大幅升级。

It is also not clear whether the Ethiopian pilots followed all of Boeing’s recommendations fully. The pilots followed Boeing’s instructions to disconnect the MCAS system. But for a still-unknown reason, the pilots then seemed to turn the system on again. That information comes from an official familiar with the investigation, who spoke⁷ with The Associated Press on Wednesday. The official spoke on the condition of remaining unidentified because Ethiopia’s report had not yet been released.

目前还不清楚埃航飞行员是否完全遵循了波音公司的所有建议。飞行员遵循波音公司指令断开了自动防失速系统，但是出于仍然未知的原因，他们又重新打开了该系统。这些消息出自于一位知情官员，他在周三接受了美联社的采访。该官员谈到状况仍然未明，是因为埃塞尔比亚尚未完全公布这份报告。

Boeing’s emergency instructions advise pilots to turn off the MCAS system and to continue flying manually for the rest of the flight.

波音公司的紧急指令建议飞行员关闭自动防失速系统，并在剩余飞行时间内继续手动飞行。

Ethiopian investigators did not talk about that issue at their press conference Thursday. They said the pilots had done what they were supposed to do.

埃塞尔比亚调查人员在周四的新闻发布会上没有谈到这个问题，他们说飞行员做了他们应该做的事情。

In a statement Thursday, Ethiopian Airlines said its pilots followed Boeing instructions.

埃航在周四发表的一份声明中称其飞行员遵照了波音公司的指令。

The Ethiopian officials did not say whether the MCAS system might have turned on again because of a broken sensor⁸. One of the sensors⁹, called Angle of Attack, did not work correctly in the Lion Air crash, which turned that plane’s MCAS system on again.

埃塞尔比亚官员并未说明自动防失速系统是否可能由于传感器损坏被再次打开。在狮航的坠机事件中，其中一个迎角传感器并未正常工作，这个传感器再次启动了飞机的自动防失速系统。

David Hasse is an aviation expert and editor of the online publication airliners.de. He said it is important that the report found the Ethiopian pilots followed the correct steps provided by Boeing. That finding links the case more closely to the Lion Air crash.

戴维·哈斯（David Hasse）是一位航空专家，也是网络出版物《德国客机》的编辑。他说，这份报告发现埃航飞行员遵照了波音公司提供的正确步骤，这一点非常重要。这一发现将这起事故同狮航坠机事件更紧密地联系起来。

Hasse said, “What is special about this case is that two crashes seem to have a very, very similar reason. This is something that is very rare in aviation.”

哈斯表示：“这起事故的特别之处在于，两起坠机事件似乎有着非常、非常接近的原因，这在航空业是非常罕见的。”

Hasse said he questions whether all Boeing 737 Max planes should have been grounded after the Lion Air crash.

哈斯表示，他怀疑在狮航坠机事件之后是否就应该要停飞所有波音737 Max机型。

I’m Jonathan Evans.

Words in This Story

nose-dive –n. to drop suddenly with the front end pointing toward the ground

cockpit –n. are in an airplane where a pilot sits

aviation –n. related to flying vehicles such as airplanes and helicopters

stall –v. to stop flying suddenly because of a loss of lift

regulators –n. government officials who enforces laws and rules

manually –adv. operated by a person, not automatic

sensor –n. a device that senses heat, light, sound, force or other things electronically

1 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

2 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

3 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

4 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 airliners   

n.客机，班机( airliner的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The fog grounded the airliners. 大雾迫使班机停飞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They placed very stable and accurate atomic clocks on regularly scheduled jet airliners. 他们将非常稳定、准确的原子钟装在定期飞行的喷气式班机上。 来自辞典例句

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 sensor   

n.传感器，探测设备，感觉器（官）

参考例句：

• The temperature sensor is enclosed in a protective well.温度传感器密封在保护套管中。
• He plugged the sensor into a outlet.他把传感器插进电源插座。

9 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句