Anti-stall system likely activated

Investigators probing the fatal crash of a Boeing 737 Max in Ethiopia have reached a preliminary conclusion that a suspect anti-stall system activated shortly before it nose-dived to the ground, the WSJ reported yesterday citing people familiar with the matter.

The findings were based on flight recorder data and represented the strongest indication yet that the system, known as MCAS, malfunctioned in both the Ethiopian Airlines crash on March 10 and the Lion Air crash in Indonesia last year, the Wall Street Journal said.

The two crashes killed a total of 346 people.

US government experts have been analysing details gathered by their Ethiopian counterparts for the past few days, the newspaper added, and the emerging consensus was relayed at a high-level briefing of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Thursday.

It added that the preliminary findings are subject to revision, and Ethiopian authorities are expected to issue their own first report within days.

Embattled aviation giant Boeing pledged Wednesday to do all it can to prevent future crashes as it unveiled a fix to the flight software of its grounded 737 MAX aircraft.