The pilots of a Lion Air plane that crashed into the sea shortly after take-off struggled to fly the jet because some of the aircraft’s automated systems had not been working properly for days and the airline failed to ground the plane to repair the problem, according to a preliminary report by Indonesian investigators into last month’s crash that killed 189 people.
In a statement, Indonesia’s transport safety committee recommended that Lion Air improve its safety culture following the crash of the almost-new Boeing 737 MAX 8. The MAX 8, the latest version of the 737, includes an automated system that pushes the nose down if a sensor detects it is pointed so high the plane is at risk of an aerodynamic stall. Investigators are focusing on whether faulty information from sensors led the plane’s system to force the nose down.