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Boeing jet design flaw led to Lion Air JT610 crash: KNKT
In a presentation for the families of the victims obtained by The Jakarta Post, the committee said the crashed aircraft’s Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) was approved based on incorrect assumptions.
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Members of the United States National Transportation Safety Board analyze debris from Lion Air flight JT610 at Tanjung Priok Port in North Jakarta. The plane crashed into the Java Sea on Oct. 29, 2018 shortly after departing from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Banten. (The Jakarta Post/Dhoni Setiawan)
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he National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) has found that errors in the design of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet as well as a lack of information on how to deal with failures in one of the aircraft’s control systems were among several factors causing a deadly crash of Lion Air flight JT610 last year.
The downed aircraft, a brand-new Boeing 737 MAX 8, crashed into the Java Sea on Oct. 29, 2018 shortly after taking off for a flight from Jakarta to Pangkalpinang, Bangka Belitung Islands. All 189 passengers and crew members on board, including three minors, were killed in the accident.
In a presentation for the families of the victims obtained by The Jakarta Post, the committee said the crashed aircraft’s Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) was approved based on incorrect assumptions.
The system adjusts the aircraft by bringing its nose down when it detects that the plane is in imminent danger of entering an aerodynamic stall, based on data collected from the airspeed, altitude and angle of attack sensors.
“During the design and certification of the Boeing 737 MAX 8, assumptions were made about pilot response to malfunctions which, even though consistent with current industry guidelines, turned out to be incorrect,” the committee told families of the victims on Wednesday.
“The absence of guidance on the MCAS or more detailed use of trim in the flight manuals and in pilot training have made it more difficult for flight crews to properly respond to uncommanded MCAS,” the KNKT went on to say.
It added that the indicator of the error was not correctly developed during the development of the aircraft. As a result, the error could not be documented by the flight crew who later could not tell maintenance staff to identify the miscalibrated sensor.
