Following the Ethiopian Airways crash, the aviation regulators around the world, including India, grounded Boeing's 737 MAX last month. This came less than five months after an October Lion Air crash in which 189 people lost their lives.
The first -- a Lion Air crash in Indonesia that killed 189 people in October -- led to Boeing issuing a bulletin reminding operators of emergency guidelines to override a specially developed anti-stall system on MAX planes.
While on Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that pilots on the doomed Ethiopian plane initially followed emergency steps outlined by Boeing but still could not regain control. Citing people briefed on the preliminary findings, the Journal reported, the pilots shut off the anti-stall system, called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), but switched it back on because they could not regain control. They then switched the system back as they tried to find other ways to control the jet before it crashed, the newspaper added.
As per the report, the MCAS is believed to have been a key factor in both 737 MAX crashes. It is designed to automatically lower the aircraft's nose if it detects a stall or loss of airspeed. Before it crashed, the pilots of the Lion Air 737 MAX struggled to control it as the MCAS repeatedly pushed the plane's nose down, according to its flight data recorder.
Both the Lion Air and Ethiopian planes -- MAX 8 models -- reportedly experienced erratic steep climbs and descents, as well as fluctuating airspeeds, before crashing shortly after takeoff. Ethiopia has said there were "clear similarities" in the two crashes.