Washington sources reported that on October 29, 2018 Lion Air Flight JT610 plunged into the Java Sea just 13 minutes after taking off. All 189 on board were killed in the tragic crash. Earlier the aircraft in operation was a Boeing 737 Max 8, delivered to the airline just two months. Meanwhile Boeing would later admit that there was a problem with one of the sensors and then on Sunday, another Boeing 737 Max 8, this time operated by Ethiopian Airlines bound for Nairobi crashed minutes after take-off, killing all 157 people on board.
Furthermore it is the second crash of the 737 MAX 8, the latest version of Boeing’s workhorse narrow body jet that first entered service in 2017. Apparently these incidents, within a span of 5 months forced aviation authorities to ask the big question Is Boeing 737 Max 8 safe to fly? Reportedly the U.S. President, Donald Trump, on the other hand blamed the ‘complex’ airplanes for being the reason of the crash. On Tuesday, Trump, without offering condolences to the families of 157 dead people from Ethiopian Airlines (including 8 Americans), posted a couple of Tweets questioning modern aircrafts.
Moreover in case of the Lion Air flight, the sensor guiding this system was sending erroneous data and investigations so far suggest that the anti-stall system may have pushed the aircraft down when it was flying level. Furthermore following the incident, Boeing said that the malfunctioning sensor on the MAX 8 could “cause the flight crew to have difficulty controlling the airplane,” leading to “possible impact with terrain”.
