Boeing CEO Admits MCAS Data Error Caused for 737 Max Plane Crashes

Addis Ababa April  05/2019 CEO of the Boeing Company has finally admitted error on the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) contributed to the two Max 8 plane crashes.

The Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed six minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa on March 10, 2019, killing 157 persons onboard.

Dennis Muilenburg, CEO of the Boeing Company issued an apology on Thursday in reply to the preliminary report announcement by Ethiopian Authorities that revealed the anti-stall system on its 737 Max aircraft was to blame for the crash.

“With the release of the preliminary report of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 accident investigation, it’s apparent that in both flights the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, known as MCAS, activated in response to erroneous angle of attack information,” the CEO said.

In a press briefing on Thursday, Minister of Transport, Dagmawit Moges said the pilots carried out proper procedures.

“The crew performed all the procedures repeatedly provided by the manufacturer but was not able to control the aircraft,” she said in the news conference.

In the video, the CEO said “as pilots have told us, erroneous activation of the MCAS function can add to what is already a high workload environment. It’s our responsibility to eliminate this risk.”

Preliminary findings on the Boeing 737 Max investigation revealed that the Ethiopian Airlines' crew members took all the necessary measure as recommended by Boeing Co. before the jetliner nosedived repeatedly and crashed.

Boeing says it continues to work with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and other regulatory agencies worldwide on the development and certification of the MCAS software update and training program.

Though investigators have not released their final reports about the crashes, there appear to be a number of similarities between Indonesia’s Lion Air flight that crashed on October 2018 and the Ethiopian Airlines crashed last March. 

Several countries, including Ethiopia, Canada, China, France, and Britain, Norway even the USA have grounded the 737 Max as investigators work to decide what caused each crash.