Boeing CEO regrets loss of life in Ethiopian Airlines and LionAir 737 Max

The problems aboard Ethiopian Airlines jet aircraft are similar to those encountered in the convicted 610 Lion Air flight – which operated the same model 737 Max 8 and crashed in October – which could be a blow for Boeing as he struggles to get the plane back into service.

The captain of Ethiopian Airlines had called "sit up" three times to tell the first officer to lift his nose, according to the preliminary report of the accident. The two pilots tried to pull their noses together to keep the plane flying, but they were unable to regain control. In total, the anti-stall system lowered the nose four times during the flight.

In the end, after the pilots turned back to Addis Ababa, the automated system plunged the plane into a steep dive that was impossible to recover, and he crashed to the ground. The 157 people on board were killed.

The report on the accident of Ethiopian Airlines does not specifically mention the anti-stall system of the aircraft Max 8, called Maneuvering feature augmentation system (MCAS), which would have contributed to the disaster of Lion Air.

But his results suggest that the MCAS system pushed the aircraft into a dive fueled by faulty readings from the angle sensor.

The MCAS system automatically lowers the nose of the aircraft when it receives information from its external attack angle sensors indicating that the aircraft is flying too slowly or too strongly and risking to pick up.

Boeing is working on a modification of the system software. The company acknowledged the similarities between the two accidents and acknowledged the role of the MCAS system in an earlier statement on Thursday. "The preliminary report contains information from the flight data recorder indicating that the aircraft had a faulty attack angle sensor input that had activated the MCAS function during the flight, like when flying the Lion Air 610 ", the statement said.

"In order to ensure that the unexpected MCAS activation does not happen again, Boeing has developed and is planning to release a software update for MCAS as well as a comprehensive program of pilot training and related related training for the 737 Max. "

In his apology Thursday afternoon, Muilenburg said: "The history of our industry shows that most accidents are caused by a chain of events." This is still the case here, and we know that we can break one of these links in these two accidents. "

Muilenburg acknowledged "the devastation of families and friends of loved ones who perished". He stated that "the erroneous activation of the MCAS function can add to what already constitutes a high workload environment" for pilots.

"It is our responsibility to eliminate this risk," he said. "We own it and we know how to do it."

She told reporters in Addis Ababa that her agency would recommend to the aviation authorities to verify that Boeing "adequately addressed the" flight control problems "before returning the aircraft to service. . "

The preliminary report, which has not yet been published, does not specify the cause of the blockage. The production of a final report can take up to a year.

The fight started right after takeoff

The chronology of the flight, detailed in the preliminary report, reveals that the pilots' struggle to control the plane began a few moments after takeoff from the plane from the Addis International Airport. Abeba Bole, en route to Nairobi.

Just after takeoff, one of the attack angle sensors on board the aircraft began to provide erroneous information to the aircraft systems, indicating an imminent stall to the flight crew. A shaker – another system intended to warn a pilot of an imminent stall – began to shake the driver's yoke. Detecting a stall, the aircraft's system tried to force the nose down.

Recognizing a problem with automatic trim, the pilots followed the emergency procedures and turned off the system. Instead, the pilots tried to use the manual override dial to adjust the trim, but the plane was traveling too fast and the manual trim wheel would have been physically impossible to use , according to a 737 pilot who spoke to CNN.

At the last minute of the flight, the pilot told his first officer that they had to stop together. Thirty-two seconds before the accident, both pilots attempted to reduce the nose in place and, for a brief moment, the aircraft-controlled, airplane-controlled stabilizer made the change. corresponding.

However, five seconds later, the automated systems of the aircraft have further reduced the nose, further accentuating the dive. The aircraft had dipped 40 degrees to the ground and was heading for the ground at 575 miles at the time when it crashed.

Tewolde Gebremariam, CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, told CNN that it was too early to say whether corrective action by Boeing would be sufficient. He added that the preliminary report proved that "all speculators with false allegations" were wrong, referring to criticisms and doubts about the qualifications of the pilot. The airline "has always been confident" of its pilots, he said.

The representatives of the American pilots reserved a cautious welcome to the report. "The initial findings of the Ethiopian investigation confirm for us that a malfunction of MCAS is a serious emergency and not a benign event," said Captain Jason Goldberg, spokesman for the American Pilots Association. "We remain cautious and hope that the potential solution will be thoroughly verified and not accelerated." The APA will remain actively engaged so that the 737 Max will fly again only when all stakeholders are satisfied that the aircraft is ready . "