Indonesia’s Lion Air crash report calls for redesign of Boeing 737 MAX, better training for pilots

An advance copy of a final report into the crash that killed all 189 people on board last October found a number of issues with the aircraft made by US aviation giant Boeing

Lion Air should have grounded the jet following faults on earlier flights, it said, adding that 31 pages were missing from October maintenance logs

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Lion Air investigators examine parts of the ill-fated Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet that crashed into the sea, killing all those on board. Photo: AFP

Published: 1:39pm, 25 Oct 2019Updated: 9:27pm, 25 Oct 2019

Indonesia has recommended closer scrutiny of automated control systems, better design of flight deck alerts and accounting for a more diverse pilot population in the wake of the crash of a Lion Air jet last October that killed all 189 people on board, according to a report.

An advance copy of a final report into the crash of the Boeing 737 MAX that crashed on October 29, 2018 was obtained by The Seattle Times, which published the report.

Less than five months after the Lion Air accident, an Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX crashed, leading to a global grounding of the model and sparking a corporate crisis at Boeing, the world’s biggest planemaker.

Indonesian investigators on Wednesday told families of the victims that a mix of factors contributed to the crash, including mechanical and design issues and a lack of documentation about how systems would behave.

A relative of a victim of the crashed Lion Air jet reacts as he speaks to reporters on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

“Deficiencies” in the flight crew’s communication and manual control of the aircraft contributed to the crash, as did alerts and distractions in the cockpit, according to slides presented to the families.