US aircraft manufacturer Boeing is considering a software update for its 737 MAX aircraft after a nearly new plane crashed in Indonesia last month, two sources told Reuters.

Indonesian investigators have launched the theory that the crash may have been caused by a new safety system that is suspected of repeatedly pushing the plane's nose down, which in turn was due to incorrect information from one of the plane's key sensors.

Boeing has maintained that cockpit procedures are already in place to deal with such problems, and that the aircraft model is safe to fly. But sources told Reuters that an update - which would disable the feature if the crew takes countermeasures in the opposite direction to the system - could be implemented within six to eight weeks.

Stalling, or overshooting as it is also called, means that the lift force is less than the mass of the aircraft, and that the aircraft therefore loses altitude. The aircraft then needs to increase speed, for example by turning the nose down.

Data from the crashed Lion Air plane suggests that the pilots attempted to correct for the faulty anti-stall measures up to 30 times before the aircraft hit the sea and all 189 people on board died.

Source: TT