Ethiopia: Boeing to blame for crash

Ethiopian investigators blame Boeing for last year’s crash of a 737 Max jet shortly after takeoff, saying in an interim report Monday that there were design failures and inadequate training for pilots.

The update from the Ethiopia Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau a day before the anniversary of the crash pointed to a new flight-control system Boeing installed on the 737 Max that repeatedly pushed the nose of the plane down.

All 157 people on board were killed when Flight 302 crashed into a field six minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa. Every Max jet worldwide was grounded within days of that crash.

The flight control system, called MCAS, for Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, defeated the pilots’ efforts to control the plane. When it triggered for the fourth and final time, the pilots fought back on their control columns, but the nose of the plane sank even more, and the jet flew even faster.

Shortly before impact, the jet plummeted toward Earth at 575 mph – at the rate of more than 5,000 feet per minute – with its nose tilted down at a 40-degree angle, according to the report. The investigators issued several recommendations to Boeing in the report and placed little blame on the airline or its pilots. In that regard, the Ethiopian update differed from a final report that Indonesian investigators issued after a 737 Max operated by Lion Air crashed in October 2018.

Data in the Ethiopian update could renew questions about the pilots’ decision to turn the MCAS back on after disabling it when the plane’s nose pitched down. One aeronautics expert said restoring power to the MCAS doomed the flight.

A full analysis of the crash will be included in the final report this year. It’s not clear whether Ethiopian investigators will place most of the blame on Boeing and the MCAS or how much, if any, blame will be assessed to the pilots. The interim report doesn’t have a full transcript of the cockpit voice recorder.

The final report could influence how soon the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration will let the grounded Max fly again.