THEY KNEW

Internal FAA Analysis Found ‘High Risk of Emergency’ After First 737 Max Crash

Risk analysis after first accident warned it “didn’t take that much” to trigger a malfunction like the one pilots dealt with ahead of the Lion Air crash.

An internal Federal Aviation Administration risk analysis conducted after the first of two Boeing 737 MAX crashes warned that there was a high risk of a similar emergency happening within months, The Wall Street Journal reports. The analysis, which hasn’t previously been reported, said it “didn’t take that much” to trigger a malfunction like the one pilots dealt with in the moments leading up to the Lion Air crash in Indonesia in October 2018. However, the regulator decided it was enough to inform pilots about the flight-control-system malfunction, believing pilots would be able to deal with it with sufficient warning. However, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed in March this year in a nosedive prompted by the same type of malfunction. Together, the crashes took a total of 346 lives. A Boeing spokesman said: “Boeing and the FAA both agreed, based on the results of their respective rigorous safety processes, that the initial action of reinforcing existing pilot procedures… and then the development and fielding of a software update, were the appropriate actions.”