Boeing fell short in disclosing key changes to Max

A US government report has said Boeing did not give regulators documents about changes in a key system blamed in two deadly crashes of its 737 Max jet, and that officials did not know how powerfully the system could push the plane’s nose down.

Government personnel involved in flight tests knew about changes Boeing made to the flight-control system, but engineers responsible for certifying the plane did not, it added. Engineers for the Federal Aviation Administration did not perform a detailed examination of the flight-control system, called MCAS, until after the first crash, in October 2018 off the coast of Indonesia.

In that crash and another five months later in Ethiopia, MCAS pushed the nose of each plane down and pilots were unable to regain control.