Boeing Co. sent an operations manual bulletin to operators of its 737 Max jets in response to the investigation of last week’s fatal crash off the coast of Indonesia that left 189 dead.
The bulletin directs “operators to existing flight crew procedures to address circumstances where there’s erroneous input from an AOA sensor,” according to a statement by Boeing.
Bloomberg News earlier reported that the plane manufacturer was alerting airlines that faulty readings from a flight-monitoring system can cause the planes to abruptly dive.
The Lion Air 737 Max 8 jetliner dove into the Java Sea on Oct. 29 minutes after takeoff, nosing downward so suddenly that it may have hit speeds of 600 miles an hour before slamming into the water. Moments earlier, the pilots radioed a request to return to Jakarta to land, but never turned back toward the airport, according to Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee and flight-track data. The committee said they were dealing with an erroneous airspeed indication.
