Boeing design flaw a factor in Lion Air crash: Indonesian probe
A design flaw, inadequate pilot training and poor flight crew performance contributed to a Boeing jet crashing in Indonesia last year, killing all 189 people on board, investigators said Friday. The Lion Air disaster was followed months later by a second crash — involving the same model of aircraft — when an Ethiopian Airlines plane went down with 157 people aboard, leading to the global grounding of Boeing’s entire 737 MAX fleet.
The crashes had thrown a spotlight on the MAX model’s Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), an automated anti-stall mechanism, that pilots in both plans had struggled to control as the jets careered downwards.
On Friday, Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee said there were flaws in Boeing’s design of the anti-stall mechanism and of its certification by US regulators.
