Boeing kept information about cockpit alert anomaly from buyers before crash
Aircraft maker’s latest disclosure raises new questions about the 737 Max’s development and testing — and the company’s lack of transparency
Chicago/Washington/Dallas — Boeing knew months before a deadly 737 Max crash that a cockpit alert was not working the way the company had told buyers of the single-aisle jetliner. But the aircraft maker did not share its findings with airlines or the Federal Aviation Administration until after a Lion Air aircraft went down off the coast of Indonesia in October, according to a Boeing statement on Sunday. The accident occurred after erroneous readings by a single angle-of-attack sensor triggered software that pushed the jet’s nose down until pilots lost control. Boeing’s latest disclosure raises new questions about the 737 Max’s development and testing — and the company’s lack of transparency. The alert was supposed to flash when two angle-of-attack vanes sent conflicting data about the relation of the aircraft’s nose to the oncoming air stream. Boeing had told airlines and pilots that the so-called AOA disagree warning was standard across the Max fleet, as on a previous generation of...
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