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Ethiopians Say Flight Data From Doomed Jet Shows Similarities to Indonesian Flight That Crashed Ethiopians Say Flight Data From Doomed Jet Shows Similarities to Indonesian Flight That Crashed
(about 1 hour later)
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Information from the data and voice recorders from an Ethiopian Airlines jet that crashed last weekend show similarities to an earlier crash of the same type of Boeing plane used by an Indonesian airline, Ethiopia’s transport ministry said.ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Information from the data and voice recorders from an Ethiopian Airlines jet that crashed last weekend show similarities to an earlier crash of the same type of Boeing plane used by an Indonesian airline, Ethiopia’s transport ministry said.
A spokesman for the ministry would not say what the similarities were but added that details of the investigation would be revealed later.A spokesman for the ministry would not say what the similarities were but added that details of the investigation would be revealed later.
Although the investigation of the latest crash is still in its early stages, there have already been indications that the Boeing 737 Max 8 used by Ethiopian Airlines may have had problems similar to those of the Indonesian plane, a Lion Air flight that crashed in October.Although the investigation of the latest crash is still in its early stages, there have already been indications that the Boeing 737 Max 8 used by Ethiopian Airlines may have had problems similar to those of the Indonesian plane, a Lion Air flight that crashed in October.
[The Ethiopian Airlines pilot’s tense messages show the jet faced an emergency almost immediately after takeoff][The Ethiopian Airlines pilot’s tense messages show the jet faced an emergency almost immediately after takeoff]
A malfunctioning software program aboard the Max 8 planes is a central focus of investigators. The software program, called M.C.A.S., was installed in the new Max 8 planes as a way of preventing stalls and worked by forcing the nose of the plane down. The second crash led to a worldwide grounding of Max 8s, Boeing’s best-selling aircraft. Although American regulators were slow to ground the planes in the United States, they said physical evidence from the Ethiopian crash, along with satellite tracking data, suggested similarities between the two crashes.
In the Indonesian flight, there are indications that the system acted in error and that the pilots had trouble overriding the software’s actions. They ultimately lost their battle before the plane plunged into the sea. Publicly available data on the Ethiopian jet’s flight path, and early findings from the debris collected after it crashed, are consistent with the possibility that the software system that is the central focus of the Indonesian crash may have been involved.
The data from the Ethiopian Airlines flight recorders, or black boxes, has not been publicly released. Experts generally caution that conclusions at this stage of an investigation are far from certain and note that there are many possible causes for crashes. That system, called MCAS, was installed in the new Max 8 planes as a way of preventing stalls and worked by forcing the nose of the planes down.
In the Indonesian flight there are indications that the system acted in error, and that the pilots had trouble overriding the software’s actions. They ultimately lost their battle before the plane plunged into the sea.
None of the public evidence on the Ethiopian flight is strong enough to prove that the system was active or that it forced the plane down, and many experts caution that conclusions at this stage of an investigation are far from certain.
In the Ethiopian flight, just as with Lion Air, public data on the flight appears to show repeated up-and-down oscillations lasting 15 to 20 seconds — a possible indication that pilots overrode the nose-down push by MCAS, only to see it activate again. For Lion Air, those oscillations were later confirmed by data from the flight recorders, or black boxes.
Debris from the Ethiopian jet added to suspicions that the MCAS system may have been involved. An obscure part called a jackscrew — the component that moves the stabilizers up and down on the tail — was recovered, and its configuration showed the stabilizers were tilted upward, according to two people with knowledge of the recovery operations. That upward tilt of the stabilizers is the mechanism that MCAS uses to push the nose down.
The Wall Street Journal first reported Sunday that the Ethiopians said the jet’s flight data recorders showed similarities to the Indonesian flight.
[When the 737 Max was introduced, Boeing and regulators agreed that pilots didn’t need additional simulator training.][When the 737 Max was introduced, Boeing and regulators agreed that pilots didn’t need additional simulator training.]