Ethiopian Airline plane requested to climb then vanished: source

Ethiopian Airline plane. [Photo: Courtesy]

Ethiopian Airlines flight 302, which crashed killing 157 people, had an unusually high speed after take-off before the plane reported problems and asked permission to climb quickly, said a source who has listened to the air traffic control recording.

A voice from the cockpit of the Boeing 737 MAX asked to climb to 14,000 feet above sea level - 6,400 feet above the airport - but vanished from radar at 10,800 feet after starting a right turn home due to what the pilot described as a flight control problem, the source said on condition of anonymity because the recording is part of an ongoing investigation.