Boeing will install an extra safety alarm in the cockpits of all its 737 Max aircraft after intense criticism in the wake of two fatal crashes.
The US aerospace group has decided to include a warning light in new 737 Max planes and to retrofit all existing ones, according to a person familiar with the situation. The alarm will tell pilots if two “angle of attack” sensors — which indicate the angle of a plane’s nose — disagree, a sign that one is not working. Boeing declined to comment.
A faulty angle of attack sensor was suspected of playing a role in the Lion Air 737 Max crash off Indonesia last October that killed all 189 people on board. The faulty sensor triggered a new anti-stall feature, MCAS, which forces the nose of a climbing aircraft down if it calculates there is a danger of stalling, according to a preliminary report.