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In an era of unprecedented aviation safety, the latest version of Boeing, its best-selling airliner, crashed twice in less than six months, killing 346 people and laying a heavy blow to the reputation of the society.
The Federal Aviation Administration, which has investigators at the site of the accident in Ethiopia, said it has material evidence to link Sunday's accident to that of Lion Air on 29 October off Jakarta.
NBC News has learned that physical evidence is a jack, a mechanism that controls the angle of the horizontal stabilizer, this smaller wing structure at the rear of the aircraft. A new automated system called MCAS is connected to the horizontal stabilizer and is only found on the 737 MAX.
MCAS is a security feature designed to operate in the background and prevent the aircraft from taking off. But this has been implicated in the Indonesian accident through last November's FAA airworthiness directives.
The jack was found in a position that would have raised the stabilizer's leading edge, which would have forced the nose down. It would have been easy to fix a problem known as "quick setting" of turning off a few switches.
In the Indonesian crash, data published in a preliminary report by the Indonesian government indicated that this was not the case and that pilots were fighting against automation.
RELATED: The flight recorders of the crash of Ethiopian Airlines arrive in France for analysis
More than 40 countries have stopped the planes or refused to let them enter their airspace after determining that the Sunday accident of the 737 Max 8 in Ethiopia had sufficiently similarities with the Lion Air accident, in Indonesia, of the same model in October. After holding out for several days, the US Federal Aviation Administration issued an emergency order putting the aircraft to the ground.
Boeing's reputation is tainted not only by the crashes, but also by its decision not to voluntarily anchor the aircraft, country after country, which ripped them off the skies.
The company's finances will suffer because the families of the victims will be sued, airlines will seek compensation, deferred revenue from missed deliveries and expenses related to solving problems and repairing its aircraft.
However, the airline industry is recovering for a long time from a tragedy and experts say that the disaster should not have a lasting impact on Boeing's brand or finances.
RELATED: Regulators challenge Boeing to prove its 737 MAX jets are safe
John McDonald, founder of the crisis management company Caeli Communications, was a former flight attendant responsible for communications for TWA when an airliner – also a Boeing – exploded and crashed into the airliner. 39 Atlantic Ocean off Long Island in 1996. McDonald lost his colleagues in this accident, which killed 230 people.
"If you look at the history of their aircraft problems, they solve the problem and move on," McDonald said. "It's very, very traumatic, but the safety of aviation is based on the blood of the victims and that's how you draw those lessons. The real challenge is to make sure you understand the problem before you start making fixes.
Strandings will have a significant financial impact on Boeing, at least in the short term. The backlog of more than 4,600 Boeing 737 Max 8s is on hold, and will only be delivered when Boeing resolves the issue and lifted the ban.
Boeing suspended deliveries of the 737 Max, but continues to build the aircraft, said company spokesman Charles Bickers. It assesses to what extent the situation, including potential capacity constraints, such as the location of the aircraft in the expectation of their delivery, will impact its production system.
Boeing shares lost more than 11% this week and Thursday, and lost about $ 29 billion in market value. Shares have always outperformed the market in 2019.
By anchoring planes in the United States, President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the decision "was not necessary, but we thought it was the right decision."
"Boeing is an amazing company," said Trump. "They are working very very hard right now and I hope they will find an answer quickly."
Boeing said it had recommended the FAA temporarily suspend operations of the entire global fleet for caution and reassure the public about the safety of the aircraft.
RELATED: Boeing 737 MAX 8: What you need to know in numbers
In an internal memo, Boeing chief executive Dennis Muilenburg told his employees he understood: "It's hard for our teams, especially for those who directly support the 737 program," adding that "we "We continue to have full confidence in the safety of the 737 MAX, our teams who design, build and support it, and that decision does not change that."
Some analysts believe airline customers will probably not cancel orders from the plane. These are long-term contracts whose execution may take a decade, as these financial arrangements are already in place and, with the exception of Airbus, no competitor offers any. 39; alternative. on the Boeing 737 Max.
"The most important problem and the most promising of their reputation is: how to sell more of these planes in the future?" said Paul Argenti, professor of corporate communications at the Tuck School of Business in Dartmouth. "The Lion Air crash showed that something was wrong, what were we going to do about it and that when the Ethiopian plane broke down, it should have been resolved."
The CEO of Norwegian Air says that he will seek compensation from Boeing for disruptions caused by groundings, and that other airlines could do the same. According to Dan Rose, partner of Kreindler & Kreindler, a law firm specializing in aviation law that represents the families of victims in other collisions, the success of such claims depends on the nature of contracts concluded by these carriers with Boeing.
The southwest has a long history with the 737 and the airliner has a remarkable safety record, said Thursday the company's CEO, Gary Kelly. He stated that the company's history with the Max had been phenomenal and that there was no problem with theft.
While countries around the world established the Max 8 before the United States, some airmen tried frantically to know if they would fly on a Max 8 and, if so, how they could change their flight.
Boeing's job was to restore the confidence of travelers, but waiting for planes to anchor planes on the ground gave the impression that passenger safety was not at the forefront, said Joshua Kroon, vice-chairman of the board. President of Levick Strategic Communications, a crisis communication firm. .
"The natural conclusion is that they only care about making money, they do not care about my safety," Kroon said.
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AP Writer Alex Olson contributed to this report.
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