Mass failings: Final air report
Boeing, Lion Air and pilots at fault in crash that killed 189
Air investigators have laid bare a string of failures on a Boeing 737 Max that led to the fatal crash of a Lion Air flight in October last year.
The Indonesian airline disaster, which killed 189 people, was followed five months later by another deadly crash involving a similar plane in Ethiopia. Shortly afterwards Boeing’s entire global fleet of 737 Max aircraft was grounded as regulators raised systemic concerns.
Indonesian investigators found Boeing, Lion Air and pilots were at fault. Nine shortcomings were identified. If one had been avoided, disaster could have been averted, the investigation found.
The anticipated final report focused on Boeing’s Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), also implicated in the Ethiopian Airlines disaster in March that killed 157 people.
While Boeing was not held solely accountable for the Indonesian disaster, the findings will pile pressure on the US plane maker, which earlier this week revealed profits had halved as the crashes and trade disputes took their toll on the company’s finances.
The 353-page report concluded the Lion Air jet should have been grounded before take-off because of issues in the cockpit — one of which it transpired had been incorrectly reported.
Investigators also found a sensor that worked with the MCAS system had not been properly tested, some 31 pages were missing from the aircraft’s maintenance log and one of the pilots had struggled during training.
Boeing chief executive Dennis Muilenburg said: “We commend Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee for its extensive efforts to determine the facts of this accident, the contributing factors to its cause and recommendations aimed toward our common goal that this never happens again.”
Boeing is working with aviation regulators to get the 737 Max signed off for service by the New Year. Before the disasters, airlines had been keen to take delivery of the fuel-efficient jets. The grounding has hit the finances of Tui, Ryanair, American Airlines and Southwest — which had large orders.