Officials said on Thursday that the pilots of a Boeing 737 MAX jet followed the procedures for stopping a new anti-stall system, but they still couldn’t prevent last month’s crash of the Ethiopian Airlines jet which killed 157 people. It was the second recent fatal crash of a 737 MAX. Ethiopia’s Transport Minister Dagmawit Moges said “the crew performed all the procedures repeatedly provided by the manufacturer but was not able to control the aircraft.” Ethiopian Airlines also said in a statement on Twitter Thursday that the pilots were in “full compliance with the emergency procedures.”
In a statement, Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Kevin McAllister said the preliminary report concluded that erroneous data from an angle of attack sensor activated the jet’s MCAS, a new anti-stall system. McAllister noted that the same problem occurred aboard a 737 MAX jet that crashed off Indonesia last year.
“Understanding the circumstances that contributed to this accident is critical to ensuring safe flight,” Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Kevin McAllister said in a statement. “We will carefully review the AIB’s preliminary report, and will take any and all additional steps necessary to enhance the safety of our aircraft.”
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