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Ethiopian Air Flight 409 Tumbled Out of Sky Off Coast of Lebanon

Investigators of the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 that went down off the coast of Lebanon are still trying to determine the cause of the accident. Witnesses reported that the Boeing 737 tumbled like "fire falling down from the sky" into the Mediterranean Sea.

Terrorism and foul play were ruled out very early in the investigation, which leaves only the weather or a catastrophic failure of some crucial part of the aircraft to blame. The weather at the time the Boeing 737-800 took off was bad, consisting of driving rain, lightning and thunder.  However, investigators believe that the bad weather in itself would not have been enough to bring down the jet.  

A spokesperson for the Lebanese army said the aircraft was on fire shortly after takeoff.  Other witnesses reported the plane broke up into three pieces.  

The Boeing 737 is considered one of the safest commercial aircrafts in service today, although it has been involved in a series of incidents and crashes over the past 15 years.  These crashes have been linked to problems with a valve in the rudder assembly. The valve reportedly would malfunction and cause the rudder to turn independently of the pilot's commands.  

The plane was carrying 90 passengers and crew bound for the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.   All aboard were killed.

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