Philippine Daily Inquirer

FAULTY SENSOR KICKED OFF EVENTS LEADING TO BOEING CRASH IN ETHIOPIA

- —AP

ADDIS ABABA— A key sensor of 737 Max 8 jetliner malfunctio­n and started a series of events that led to the crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight, according to a probe report released on Thursday.

The findings draw the strongest link yet between the March 10 crash in Ethiopia and an October crash off the coast of Indonesia, which both involved Boeing 737 Max 8 jetliners. All 346 people on the two planes were killed.

Boeing admission

Both planes had an automated system that pushed the nose down when sensor readings detected the danger of an aerodynami­c stall, and it now appears that sensors malfunctio­ned on both planes.

Boeing acknowledg­ed that the sensor malfunctio­ned and CEO Dennis Muilenburg said on Thursday a new software update would prevent future incidents.

Thursday’s preliminar­y report, based on flight data and cockpit voice recorders on the Ethiopian Airlines jetliner, showed that the faulty sensor touched off a series of events that caused the pilots to lose control of the plane.

The report from Ethiopia’s Aircraft Accident Investigat­ion Bureau said the sensor problems began about a minute after the plane was cleared for takeoff.

It said air speed and altitude values on the left side of the Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max conflicted with data from the right sensor, causing flight control problems.

Eventually the pilots couldn’t keep the plane from crashing and killing all 157 people on board.

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