Lion Air Boeing 737 Max plane pilots ‘scoured handbook’ in bid to prevent fatal crash
Pilots of the doomed Boeing 737 Max 8 Lion Air flight scoured a manual to try to understand why the jet was lurching before its fatal crash last October, it is reported.
Read more: Investigation into Boeing Ethiopia crash black box data begins
The jet hit the Java Sea before pilots could work out what was going wrong, despite using the handbook in a desperate bid to understand the jet’s behaviour, according to Reuters.
The crash killed all 189 people on board, preceding a similar tragedy in Ethiopia that occurred earlier this month.
Voice recordings from the cockpit leaked to Reuters showed the first officer reported a “flight control problem” two minutes after taking off from Jakarta, according to a November report.
The jet then warned pilots incorrectly that it was stalling, and pointed its nose downwards in response.
As the captain tried to force the plane to climb, the plane’s trim system continued to point it down.
“They didn’t seem to know the trim was moving down,” the third source said. “They thought only about airspeed and altitude. That was the only thing they talked about.”
French air accident investigation agency Bea said the Ethiopian Airlines crash bore similarities to the Lion Air tragedy earlier this week.
Since the crash Boeing has been trying to roll out a new software upgrade designed to adjust the authority given to an anti-stall system on the 737 Max, Reuters said.
Read more: Boeing's Ethiopian Airlines crash fallout: Everything you need to know
Airlines and countries around the world banned the 737 Max aircraft after this month’s crash, leading Boeing to ground all such aircraft.