Crashed Indonesian plane wasn’t airworthy

Data recovered from the black box of the downed Indonesian Lion Air plane revealed a failure of equipment and safety measures leading to last month’s deadly accident, according to a report released by investigators Wednesday. The Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft crashed Oct. 29 into the Java Sea northeast of Jakarta, Indonesia, 13 minutes after takeoff, killing all 189 people on board.

The plane experienced technical problems on four flights before the crash, and it was unclear why engineers certified that it was airworthy, said Nurcahyo Utomo, an investigator with the Indonesian National Transportation and Safety Commission. Investigators are still looking into what technicians did to attempt to fix the problems with faulty sensors and an automatic safety system, which repeatedly forced the nose of the plane down before the crash despite attempts by the pilots to control it. The investigation team recommended that the airline improve its safety culture and train pilots on emergency procedures.