Boeing Max Design and Pilot Failures Blamed for Lion Air Crash
- MCAS feature is major focus point in Indonesia’s investigation
- Flight 610 crashed in Java Sea last year, killing 189 people
Indonesian investigators found sweeping problems and missteps in connection with last year’s fatal Lion Air crash, including design flaws in Boeing Co.’s 737 Max jet, certification failures by the U.S. regulator and a raft of errors at the airline by pilots and mechanics.
In a much-anticipated report released Friday, the National Transportation Safety Committee listed its findings and recommended fixes to Boeing, Lion Air and aviation authorities in the U.S. and Indonesia. The findings focused on a flight-control feature called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, which has also been implicated in an Ethiopian Airlines crash in March. But it also painted a damning picture of Lion Air, where numerous actions also helped lead to the tragedy.