Indonesia to Publish Final Report on Lion Air Crash Next Month

Indonesian investigators will give their final report next month on the crash of a Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX jet that killed 189 people last October, the country’s civil aviation authority said on Friday.

The 737 MAX, Boeing’s best-selling jet, was grounded globally in March following another fatal crash of the jet operated by Ethiopian Airlines. The two crashes together killed 346 people.

A draft of the report by the transport safety agency (KNKT) will be sent next week to Boeing, Lion Air, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and other parties to seek feedback, said Polana Pramesti, director general of civil aviation.

“After getting the responses, KNKT will release it in September,” Pramesti told Reuters.

The report will include the facts and a chronology of the Lion Air crash, the causes of the incident and give recommendations, said KNKT deputy chairman Haryo Satmiko.

Boeing and the FAA provided data for the report, he said, which is expected to be released at the end of September.

Boeing has been working on an upgrade for a stall-prevention system known as MCAS since the Lion Air crash, when pilots were believed to have lost a tug of war with software that repeatedly pushed the nose down.

Boeing said last month it would give $100 million over multiple years to governments and non-profit organizations to help families and communities affected by the crashes of its 737 MAX planes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

The airline is the target of a U.S. Department of Justice criminal investigation into the development of the 737 MAX, regulatory probes and more than 100 lawsuits by victims’ families.




leave a reply: