April 06,2019

Thomas Jan

On April 4, investigators released a preliminary report on the March 10 crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, which killed all the 157 people on board, and detailed the jet's pilots followed all emergency procedures before the crash. But, faulty sensor signals were triggered by the jet's automatic anti-stall system, known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), and erroneously pushed the plane into a deadly nose-dive moments after takeoff, similarly to the time when Lion Air Flight 610, another 737 Max, crashed and killed all 189 people on board in Indonesia on October 29, 2018.

CEO Dennis A. Muilenburg responded and acknowledged that a deadly failure of Boeing's software was one of the causes in the recent 737 Max jet crashes that killed 346 people. "We at Boeing are sorry for the lives lost in the recent 737 Max accidents. These tragedies continue to weigh heavily on our hearts and minds, and we extend our sympathies to the loved ones of the passengers and crew on board Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302," he said in a video message.

Muilenburg said a software update to the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) would be ready to implement within weeks, "along with the associated training and additional educational materials that pilots want in the wake of these accidents, will eliminate the possibility of unintended MCAS activation and prevent an MCAS-related accident from ever happening again".