Flight Simulator Shows What It's Like Inside Plane Just Before Crash

Retired airline Capt. Ross Aimer flew a flight simulator to show what it might have been like inside the doomed Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed on March 10, killing everyone on board.

In the simulator, Aimer took off from the same airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, bound for Nairobi, Kenya, "flying" something like the Boeing 737 Max 8, a model that has since been grounded in the U.S. after the crash in Ethiopia earlier this month and another like it months before.

A minute after takeoff in the simulator, there was a problem, with the plane's nose suddenly pointing down, which was similar to what happened in the case of the Ethiopian Airlines flight.

The crew can't do anything about it, and in the simulator; Aimer could not control the plane. 

Just minutes after takeoff, the simulator plane crashed, like what happened in reality. 

Aimer said using a cutoff switch could have given the pilot back control of the jet and taken it out of its doomed plunge. 

“We have basically saved the aircraft. I'm climbing back up,” he said in the simulator. 

However, Aimer said, after a certain point the Ethiopian Airlines plane's fate was sealed.

“There's really no way to pull that aircraft up out of that nosedive,” he said. 

In a statement, Boeing said it had "full confidence" in the plane. 

"Safety is Boeing’s No. 1 priority and we have full confidence in the safety of the 737 Max," the statement read. "We understand that regulatory agencies and customers have made decisions that they believe are most appropriate for their home markets. We’ll continue to engage with them to ensure they have the information needed to have confidence in operating their fleets.

"The United States Federal Aviation Administration is not mandating any further action at this time, and based on the information currently available, we do not have any basis to issue new guidance to operators."

RELATED STORIES