Ethiopian Airlines plane had "flight control problems," says airline CEO

The pilots of the doomed Ethiopian Airlines flight told air traffic control they were having "flight control problems" before the crash, airline CEO Tewolde GebreMariam told CNN's Richard Quest.

This suggests the plane was not responding to pilots’ inputs and they were losing control of the aircraft, explains Quest.

GebreMariam said the flight data recorders "will be sent overseas," rather than being read in Ethiopia, which does not have the technical capability to do it. He did not say where, specifically, they would be read.

Pilots were aware of airworthiness directive issued after the Lion Air crash in October and had had additional training, he said.

View CNN's full report here.