MAX pilots 鈥榝ollowed Boeing鈥檚 instructions鈥
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THE pilots of a doomed Ethiopian Airlines jet followed all of Boeing’s recommended procedures when the plane started to nose dive but still couldn’t save it, according to a preliminary report released yesterday by the Ethiopian government.
The plane crashed just six minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa on March 10, killing all 157 people on board.
The report, based on flight data and cockpit voice recorders on the Boeing 737 MAX 8, was not released in full. Boeing declined to comment pending its review of the report. The MAX 8 has been under scrutiny since a Lion Air flight crashed off the coast of Indonesia under similar circumstances in October.
Yesterday’s revelations raise questions about repeated assertions by Boeing and US regulators that pilots could regain control in some emergencies by following steps that include turning off an anti-stall system designed specifically for the MAX, known by its acronym, MCAS.
Investigators are looking into the role of MCAS, which under some circumstances can automatically lower the plane’s nose to prevent an aerodynamic stall.
The MAX has been grounded worldwide pending a software fix that Boeing is rolling out, which still needs to be approved by the US Federal Aviation Administration.
Ethiopian investigators did not specifically mention the MCAS, but recommended that Boeing review “the aircraft flight control system related to the flight controllability.”
They also recommended that aviation officials verify that issues have been adequately addressed before allowing the planes to fly again.
Boeing is working on improvements to the MCAS software that would make it less aggressive in pointing the nose down and easier for pilots to disable. The FAA has said it will review the software before allowing the MAX to fly again.
The agency said on Monday that it anticipates Boeing’s final software improvements for 737 MAX airliners “in the coming weeks.”
It isn’t clear whether the Ethiopian pilots followed Boeing’s recommendations to the letter in dealing with the system repeatedly pointing the nose down.
The pilots initially followed Boeing’s emergency steps by disconnecting the MCAS system, but for an unknown reason, they turned the system back on, an official familiar with the crash investigation said on Wednesday.
Boeing’s procedures instruct pilots to leave the MCAS system disconnected and fly manually for the rest of the flight.
Ethiopian investigators did not address that issue at its press conference, saying only that the pilots had done what they were supposed to.
“The crew performed all the procedures repeatedly provided by the manufacturer but were not able to control the aircraft,” said Minister of Transport Dagmawit Moges.
However, after the press conference Moges said the pilots turned MCAS on and off, but she couldn’t say how many times. That will be addressed in the final report.
David Hasse, an aviation analyst and editor of industry publication airliners.de in Berlin, said it is significant that the report found that the pilots followed the proper procedures, because that links the case more closely to the Lion Air crash.
“The question is whether the Boeing 737 MAX should have been grounded after the Lion Air crash and before the Ethiopian Airlines crash,” said Hasse.
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