Boeing's MCAS anti-stall system, which was implicated in the October crash of a 737 MAX 8 airliner in Indonesia, was also activated shortly before a recent accident in Ethiopia, a source with knowledge of the investigation said Friday.
The two planes' flight recorders provided the strongest indication yet that an anti-stall system malfunctioned in both the Ethiopian Airlines crash of March 10, 2019 -- the aftermath of which is seen here -- and Lion Air's 2018 crash in Indonesia. AFP/File/TONY KARUMBA
The information retrieved from the plane’s voice and data recorders was presented Thursday to US authorities, including the Federal Aviation Administration , the source said. It was yet another blow to aviation giant Boeing, which just this week unveiled a fix to the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System that Boeing designed to prevent stalls in its new plane.
The MCAS, which lowers the aircraft’s nose if it detects a stall or loss of airspeed, was developed specifically for the 737 MAX, which has heavier engines than its predecessor, creating aerodynamic issues. The flight track of the doomed Ethiopia Airlines flight, which also crashed minutes after takeoff, “was very similar to Lion Air there was very possibly a link between the two flights,” FAA acting chief Daniel Elwell told Congress this week.That delay, along with an FAA policy allowing Boeing to certify some of its own safety features, has raised questions about whether regulators are too close to the industry.
However, Steven Marks, the lawyer for Jackson Musoni’s family, said information from the recent tragedies, as well as pilot reports, “made it crystal clear that the cause of these two crashes are the same.”
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