© AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene / AP
Airplane parts lie on the ground at the scene of an Ethiopian Airlines flight crash near Bishoftu, or Debre Zeit, south of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, March 11, 2019.
Airplane parts lie on the ground at the scene of an Ethiopian Airlines flight crash near Bishoftu, or Debre Zeit, south of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, March 11, 2019.
The accident, following the 2018 crash of the same model plane in Indonesia killing 189 people, led to the grounding of Boeing's 737 MAX worldwide, wiped billions off the company's value and sparked hundreds of lawsuits from bereaved families.
The interim report bolstered the findings of Ethiopia's initial assessment, which linked the crash to a Boeing automated system. The interim report's recommendations did not include any proposed measures for Ethiopian authorities or the airline.
It said two sensors recording the plane's angle - known as the "angle of attack'' or AOA - differed in readings by 59 degrees. "Shortly after lift-off, the left and right recorded AOA values deviated. The left AOA values were erroneous and reached 74.5o,'' the report said.
That was followed by the activation of an anti-stall system known as MCAS which repeatedly forced the plane's nose downward because the sensor was saying it was climbing too steeply, it said.
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