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New details in the probe into the Ethiopian 737 jetliner crash that indicate the pilots disabled a safety system driving down the nose -- yet still crashed -- only deepen the mystery of what happened, say pilots and former investigators. The flight crew on the Ethiopian Airlines aircraft followed at least part of a protocol set by planemaker Boeing to manually disable an automated anti-stall system as they tried to save the 737 Max jet, a person familiar with the situation said as Ethiopian authorities prepare to release a preliminary report on the accident Thursday. However, the pilots didn’t perform another critical part of the checklist, said another person familiar with results of the Ethiopian investigation. Before cutting power to a motor operated by the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, they failed to adjust the plane so it wasn’t set to dive. That made it more difficult to fly the plane and may have hastened the fatal plunge that occurred later in the flight, said the person. The pilots later switched power back on to the so-called trim motor. That runs counter to the warning Boeing and the US FAA issued last November after the first crash of a 737 Max aircraft in Indonesia. The FAA’s emergency directive says switches controlling power to the trim system should be set to “CUTOUT and stay in the CUTOUT position for the remainder of the flight.” MCAS engaged numerous times during the short flight, one of the people said. Boeing recommended against jumping to conclusions before the Ethiopian report is published. “We urge caution against speculating and drawing conclusions on the findings prior to the release of the flight data and the preliminary report,” the company said in a statement Wednesday.<br/>

Investigators will release Thursday a keenly awaited report on the deadly crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jet, Ethiopia's Transport Ministry said, giving the first official clues to the second crash of a new Boeing 737 MAX in five months. Some 35 nationalities were among the 157 passengers and crew who died when the nearly full plane crashed six minutes after take-off from Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, in clear conditions. "The 10:30 a.m. (0730 GMT) press conference is to present the preliminary report," Ethiopian Transport Ministry spokesman Musie Yehyies said. The report may shed light on how a piece of cockpit software came back to life after pilots initially switched it off as they tried to save the doomed jet, people familiar with the matter said, placing both technology and crew in the spotlight. <br/>

African air disasters always used to lead to the same conclusion -- with the airline blamed for poor maintenance, ancient planes or poorly trained pilots, and often a combination of all three. But when an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing Co. 737 crashed near Addis Ababa last month, a curious thing happened: Industry experts immediately began to question the safety not of the carrier, but the plane itself. The focus on Boeing’s new Max jet, rather than the perceived unreliability of an emerging-market airline, has a lot to do with the model’s two fatal -- and strikingly similar -- crashes within five months. But it also speaks volumes for the strides made by an African carrier that’s thrived against some of the biggest names in global aviation, in some of their most competitive markets. “Ethiopian has long taken the crown as the best airline in Africa but is also well regarded globally,” said John Strickland, an aviation analyst at JLS Consulting in London. CEO Tewolde GebreMariam “has had a long career in the industry and has overseen fleet investment and impressive network development strategy.” With a preliminary report on the disaster expected Thursday, a behind-the-scenes battle has taken shape over how to frame the results -- pitting the quality of Boeing’s technology against the training of Ethiopian Airlines pilots. The cockpit crew on EA Flight 302 followed protocol set out by the planemaker when the Max jet’s automated anti-stall system engaged shortly after the plane took off on March 10, people familiar with the matter said Wednesday, reinforcing concerns raised by regulators and lawmakers. That Ethiopian has mostly evaded criticism is partly due to the success of an airline founded more than half a century ago under former Emperor Haile Selassie. The carrier has expanded beyond its home market with a hub model that pulls in passengers from around the world to Addis Ababa and sends them onward to cities across sub-Saharan Africa. The strategy has made Ethiopian the continent’s biggest airline and its only consistently profitable one, a beacon of corporate free-thinking in a region where flag carriers are often government playthings. That’s despite being 100% owned by the Ethiopian state. Story has more background about the carrier.<br/>

Brazilian airline Avianca Brasil plans to split into seven units that it will auction off separately, with rivals LATAM Airlines and Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes both planning to bid for some of those parts in a bankruptcy auction. The plan to split up the carrier, filed in a Brazilian court on Wednesday, is a significant departure from a previous proposal and adds fresh competition for some of the most-coveted airport slots in Brazil. But it also shuts the door on a previous offer by competitor Azul SA. Azul signed a preliminary agreement this month to pay at least $105m for a selection of Avianca Brasil’s assets, a proposal that had been considered a coup by analysts who saw it as a way for Azul to challenge its bigger competitors: LATAM and Gol. Azul also last month gave Avianca Brasil a much-needed cash injection of 31.6m reais ($8.21m) after it fell behind on its payroll. But Avianca Brasil’s new plan involves dividing up the assets Azul sought, which include airport slots and its loyalty mileage program, into multiple new companies. Gol and LATAM are now offering at least $70m each, and both said their bids had been requested by Avianca Brasil’s largest creditor, hedge fund Elliott Management. A person involved in the bankruptcy proceedings said last week that disagreements had emerged between Azul and creditors that threatened to derail the initial $105m offer.<br/>

Slovenian flag carrier Adria Airways and Russian manufacturer Sukhoi Civil Aircraft have failed to convert the airline’s November 2018 letter of intent to acquire 15 Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional jets into a firm order after they were unable to reach an agreement on contract terms. In an April 2 statement announcing the end of the arrangement, Adria said that it had been “intensively preparing for the arrival of the aircraft” and in February was advertising for flight crews for the planned SSJ100 fleet. The airline had signed a letter of intent in November to acquire the aircraft via a long-term lease arrangement, and signed an MOU with SCAC to establish a joint MRO operation. “While the aircraft type per se still seems very attractive, Adria Airways has not been able to finalize the contractual clauses with the Russian side,” the carrier said. “There were growing concerns on Adria´s side about SCAC’s commitment to a fair and stable long-term partnership, as well as lacking common vision of further strategic development of the company.”<br/>