NEW YORK - Two safety features that could have helped pilots of the two doomed Boeing 737 Max jetliners that crashed in Indonesia and Ethiopia were never installed on the planes - in part because Boeing charged extra for them, . Faulty data from sensors on the Lion Air plane may have caused the system, known as MCAS, to malfunction, authorities suspect. Boeing’s optional safety features, in part, could have helped the pilots detect any erroneous readings. Bjorn Fehrm, an analyst at the aviation consultancy Leeham, told the Times that the safety features are "critical," but Boeing charges extra for them "because it can." The FAA and U.S. airlines that use the planes stood by the plane's safety until last week.

Source: Ethiopian News March 21, 2019 16:07 UTC