Debris of the crashed airplane of Ethiopia Airlines, near Bishoftu, a
town some 60 kilometres southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on March 11,
2019. PHOTO | MICHAEL TEWELDE | AFP
The pilots of the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX plane that
crashed last month initially took the emergency steps outlined by the
manufacturer but still could not regain control, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
The
airliner went down soon after taking off on March 10, killing 157
people in the second deadly crash of a 737 MAX aircraft in less than
five months, forcing a worldwide grounding of the model.
The
first—a Lion Air crash in Indonesia that killed 189 people in
October—led to Boeing issuing a bulletin reminding operators of
emergency guidelines to override a specially developed anti-stall system
on MAX planes.
The pilots trying to regain control of
the Ethiopian jet at first followed those procedures to switch off the
Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) but failed to
recover control, the WSJ said, citing people briefed on the crash
investigation's preliminary findings.
They then switched the system back as they tried to find other ways to control the jet before it crashed, the newspaper added.
Its sources said "the latest details are based on data downloaded from the plane's black-box recorders".
The preliminary report on the accident will likely be issued this week, the Ethiopian government has said.
The
MCAS is believed to have been a key factor in both 737 MAX crashes. It
is designed to automatically lower the aircraft's nose if it detects a
stall or loss of airspeed.
Before it crashed, the
pilots of the Lion Air 737 MAX struggled to control it as the MCAS
repeatedly pushed the plane's nose down, according to its flight data
recorder.
Both the Lion Air and Ethiopian planes—MAX 8
models—reportedly experienced erratic steep climbs and descents, as well
as fluctuating airspeeds, before crashing shortly after take-off.
Ethiopia has said there were "clear similarities" in the two crashes.
Boeing
last week gathered hundreds of pilots and reporters for a presentation
on proposed MCAS changes—including the system no longer repeatedly
making corrections when pilots try to regain control.
The company is anxious to win approval for a remedy that could get the planes back in the air.
But
the US Federation Aviation Administration (FAA), which faced harsh
questioning last week at a congressional hearing regarding its oversight
of Boeing, said it expected the plane maker to submit the proposed fix
"over the coming weeks" after it undertakes additional work.
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