Lawmaker: Ethiopian crash report will add to ‘grave’ questions for Boeing, FAA

The Ethiopian government’s upcoming preliminary findings on the deadly crash of a 737 MAX 8 will add to questions about Boeing’s design and why the Federal Aviation Administration approved it to fly, a U.S. lawmaker familiar with some of the details said Wednesday.

Ethiopian authorities have scheduled a briefing in Addis Ababa for 3:30 a.m. EDT Thursday to discuss the March 10 disaster, which was the second fatal accident involving Boeing’s hot-selling jetliner since October. Recent news reports based on leaks from the probe have indicated that the 737 MAX’s problems may go beyond the anti-stall software that has surfaced as a suspected factor in both crashes.

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Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who sits on the Senate committee with jurisdiction over aviation, said he had “some informal information” on the preliminary results.

“I can’t really share it, but I think the net result will be to reaffirm the grave credibility crisis in the FAA and Boeing,” Blumenthal said.

Senators of both parties pressed acting FAA Administrator Dan Elwell last week on how his agency approved the 737 MAX, which first entered service in 2017 and has racked up two deadly crashes within five months. The accidents have also heightened questions about the FAA’s handling of a congressionally mandated certification system in which manufacturers like Boeing handle much of the testing and evaluation of their own equipment, with the agency's supervision.

With all the concerns raised about the MAX, “a top-to-bottom reexamination and possible recertification” could be needed, said Jim Hall, a former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

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Still, some members of Congress have sent mixed signals about whether their main concern is the safety of Boeing’s plane or the competence of foreign airlines’ pilots. That’s been a source of friction for Ethiopian Airlines, the flag carrier for Ethiopia and a success story for the nation.

Reports this week from The Wall Street Journal and The Seattle Times cast doubt on one of the main defenses deployed by Boeing and the FAA — that the pilots in the Ethiopian Airlines crash, and an earlier crash in Indonesia, should have been able to pull the MAX out of its fatal dive by following standard protocols every licensed pilot should know.

In fact, the Ethiopian pilots tried to follow the procedures that Boeing and the FAA had outlined for such an emergency, the Journal reported, citing people briefed on the findings. Recent flight simulations have indicated that the pilots on the Indonesian jet may have had just 40 seconds to figure out what was wrong before their plane plunged into the sea, The New York Times reported last week.

Much of the initial scrutiny for both crashes has focused on an automated software system that was designed to automatically push the plane’s nose down if it appeared to be climbing too steeply.

But the Journal and Seattle Times stories indicate that the 737 MAX may have other shortcomings. They said evidence suggests that the pilots were unable to pull the plane up even after cutting off power to the automated system and attempting to turn a manual crank wheel, as training dictates. After that failed, the pilots then apparently reactivated the automated system, the newspapers said.

Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), the top Republican on the House Transportation Committee and a pilot with a commercial-grade license, said that points to a problem with the pilots' response.