According a report published in the news agency Reuters citing three people briefed on the matter, the much talked about anti-stall system in Boeing 737 MAX jetliners played a role in the crash of a plane of the same model of the Ethiopian Airlines this month. Investigators probing the lion Air crash off the Indonesian cost five months ago and involving the same craft are also looking at the same fault as has been indicated in the Ethiopian crash.
The Reuters report quoted the sources saying that the so-called MCAS system had been activated in the 737 MAX jet before the craft plunged into a field outside Addis Ababa on March 10. When the MCAS system is activated, it automatically pushes the nose of the jet downwards. The investigators probing the Ethiopian crash is scheduled to place an interim official report soon.
There were no comments to the report made by US Federal Aviation Administration. The indicative report was first published in the Wall Street Journal.
This is the second piece of evidence that were related which has reportedly come out from examination of the black boxes of the crashed Ethiopian flight 302 following an initial stage of data recovered by investigators in Paris about 11 days ago which also suggested similar “angle of attack” readings to the first crash.
Stall-related information needed to trigger the automated nose-down MCAS system was referenced in these initial airflow readings from the Ethiopian jet.
This system is supposed to only get activated when the angle of attack - measuring the way the wing cuts through the air –reaches a more than desired high level for which the plane could stall or losing lift.
However what is yet not clear is that whether faulty sensor data was what the system was responding to on the Ethiopian jet as was the case of the earlier crash, or were there genuine reasons for the system to get activated.
Similarities between the two accidents have been pointed out by Ethiopian, French and U.S. officials that resulted in the grounding of the Boeing 737MAX globally.
It has been reported an Ethiopian-led investigation is attempting top ascertain whether the pilots were over powered by the system which could have led to a situation that would have been similar to the Lion Air crash and the actions that were taken by the crew in such a serious situation.
The Lion Air disaster could have been prevented by the use of two existing cut-out switches on the craft, Boeing has suggested. Despite that, the aircraft maker has also announced a software upgrade to the system and improve pilot training,.
The Reuters report quoted two of the people briefed on the matter as saying that based on the airplane’s speed and fatal descent, it can be said that the cut-out switches had not been hit by the pilots of the Ethiopian Airlines. However the sources could not conclusively say whether that was established by the data available so far
(Source:www.reuters.com)
The Reuters report quoted the sources saying that the so-called MCAS system had been activated in the 737 MAX jet before the craft plunged into a field outside Addis Ababa on March 10. When the MCAS system is activated, it automatically pushes the nose of the jet downwards. The investigators probing the Ethiopian crash is scheduled to place an interim official report soon.
There were no comments to the report made by US Federal Aviation Administration. The indicative report was first published in the Wall Street Journal.
This is the second piece of evidence that were related which has reportedly come out from examination of the black boxes of the crashed Ethiopian flight 302 following an initial stage of data recovered by investigators in Paris about 11 days ago which also suggested similar “angle of attack” readings to the first crash.
Stall-related information needed to trigger the automated nose-down MCAS system was referenced in these initial airflow readings from the Ethiopian jet.
This system is supposed to only get activated when the angle of attack - measuring the way the wing cuts through the air –reaches a more than desired high level for which the plane could stall or losing lift.
However what is yet not clear is that whether faulty sensor data was what the system was responding to on the Ethiopian jet as was the case of the earlier crash, or were there genuine reasons for the system to get activated.
Similarities between the two accidents have been pointed out by Ethiopian, French and U.S. officials that resulted in the grounding of the Boeing 737MAX globally.
It has been reported an Ethiopian-led investigation is attempting top ascertain whether the pilots were over powered by the system which could have led to a situation that would have been similar to the Lion Air crash and the actions that were taken by the crew in such a serious situation.
The Lion Air disaster could have been prevented by the use of two existing cut-out switches on the craft, Boeing has suggested. Despite that, the aircraft maker has also announced a software upgrade to the system and improve pilot training,.
The Reuters report quoted two of the people briefed on the matter as saying that based on the airplane’s speed and fatal descent, it can be said that the cut-out switches had not been hit by the pilots of the Ethiopian Airlines. However the sources could not conclusively say whether that was established by the data available so far
(Source:www.reuters.com)
