Last Monday, January 25, 2010, in the early morning hours, an unexpected and devastating thing occurred on the Mediterranean Sea a few kilometres off the coast of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. At approximately five minutes after taking off from Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport for a flight to Addis Abeba, the passengers and crew members of Flight Number ET409 became aware of an inevitable crash.

All communication from the air traffic control room at the Beirut International Airport was cut off, the outcome being the unavoidable plane crash.

As the third plane crash in the 63 year history of the airline, this may go down in records as one with no survivors. This has thrown the air transport system into chaos and the government into crisis causing the Ethiopian populace, including the country’s leaders, to fall into national mourning and remorse.

People connected with commercial aviation or, for that matter, anyone at all cannot simply watch what happened to the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-800 accident without feeling a strong sense of dismay and despondency.

In a nutshell, regardless of the wide economic and political divide, the world reaches out to a grief-stricken nation.

This incident is particularly distressing given that Ethiopian enjoys the reputation of rendering excellent flight services dating back for more than half a century as one of aviation’s pioneers in the African continent.

One important point, though, is that the airline should not tear apart its management, staff or operating procedures over what appears to be a tragic accident  . This is an accident and it could happen to any airline anywhere in the world. The fact of the matter is accidents have little to do with the capacity of the airline.

But this whole unpleasant incident revealed some thwarting actions taken by government officials on both the Ethiopian side and the Lebanese side.

The accusations, finger pointing and search for a culprit to blame among the officials of the two governments a couple of days following the accident echoes a lack of response when is comes to crisis management.

It reveals that depressingly little has changed on how authority figures on both sides respond to aviation accidents, despite the harm done to the nation’s aviation image and reputation following that.

Officials seem to be playing the impractical blame game and the subsequent search for villains.

Oh, come on! That should not even be on the menu as a last option, especially in a situation like this.

At least, if the blame game is unavoidable, it would be decorous to wait for the retrieval and release of the cockpit tape  i.e. Black Box of the Ethiopian Airlines crew’s final deplorable seconds then move to censure anyone such as the air traffic controllers on duty at the time.

One thing that ought to be mentioned is that the pilot was qualified for the flight or any flight for that matter. He obtained his pilot’s licence in 1987 and had accumulated numerous flying hours.

Searching for the facts, the whole facts, and nothing but the facts should be the task at hand.

Officials owe, at least, this to the victims and their anguished family and friends since they deserve to know the truth. And the truth is the only thing that can clarify the mist that has been covering the whole situation.

Moreover, Captain Habtamu Benti had the legacy of always taking extra care and then subsequently declining to land a plane and cancelling a flight en route if necessary.

It is highly doubtful that managing a crisis situation like this will create a “just culture” within the airlines, as it already exists.

On the contrary, Ethiopian Airlines, with its deferential Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Girma Wake and all staff members, deserves a mighty and heartfelt standing ovation. They have managed to handle the mayhem in an organised way from suitably propagating information, to setting up a toll-free hotline, to handling the victims’ families in a dignified manner.

But beyond the patriotic support and applaud for Ethiopian Airlines, this is an opportune moment to do some soul searching.

Ethiopian Airlines is currently working on a lot of expansion projects like acquiring more planes, constructing a four star hotel, expanding cargo facilities, and expanding networks flight routes.

International efficiency and safety awards have been issued. However, the devil is in the details, meaning that the airline should not push one of its most valuable assets, its crew members, to their limits, especially if complaints are coming from the crew members themselves.

One thing worth mentioning is the condition of crew members fed up with overloaded, strained working conditions and distanced management. An unforeseen work-to-rule slowdown and the system’s inability to handle strong crew member demand is bound to find its way to a headline. It would be more upsetting for the continent’s most successful airline to go into the red this year.

The International Airline Transport Association (IATA) is going to scrutinise the airline on these and other technical issues.

Being scrutinised could be a blessing in disguise, allowing Ethiopian Airlines to make some modifications on the work process of the organisation.

Yet it is just as possible that the airline’s leaders are recognising that things cannot go on as they have.

They should do what has to be done and spend what has to be spent to make air travel safe and efficient as well as address the needs of the cabin crew.

Perhaps that should include reducing the flight hours from 120 hours per month to 90 hours per month or maybe it should not.

So far, not enough is known about the causes of the 737-800 crash to make that recommendation.

But unless the authority is insulated from the political process, adequately funded, and empowered to speak out on safety issues without fear of repercussions, it is difficult to see what will be accomplished by such a move.

Regardless of who operates the airports and airway systems, it is vital that all stakeholders work together to address safety challenges. That includes airlines, airports, the air navigation services provider, government safety regulators and the airplane manufacturing community.

One thing is certain, however. And this is should not be taken as one of those useless tips or empty remarks.

Before Ethiopian Airlines recovers from this setback to get back to business as usual, like composing beguiling maxims such as “Going to Great Lengths to Please” or “Africa’s Link to the World,” or to leaping into yet another success oriented endeavour, the airline should reorganise and correct some of the drawbacks of the past.

And that can actually be one way of honouring the memory of the Mediterranean Sea accident victims.