French investigators confirm ‘clear similarities’ between 737 MAX crashes
French air accident investigators have confirmed ‘clear similarities’ between the Ethiopian Air crash and the Lion Air crash.
In a statement yesterday, it said data from the flight had been transferred to the Ethiopian Accident Investigation Bureau as part of the investigation process.
"During the verification process of the FDR data, clear similarities were noted by the investigation team between Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 and Lion Air Flight 610, which will be the subject of further study during the investigation," it said.
Both crashes happened within minutes of take-off and both involved a Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.
The aircraft type has since been grounded across the world pending further investigation.
Ethiopia’s Transport Ministry and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had already pointed to similarities between the two disasters, which killed everyone on board.
Questions are now being raised about the vetting system of a new anti-stall system on the aircraft and whether pilots were properly trained to operate it.
Reports in the Seattle Times over the weekend~claimed flaws in the new system were identified by some analysis before the crash.
They alleged the analysis produced by Boeing played down the power of the control system and could repeatedly push down the nose of the plane.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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