CHICAGO, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Boeing Company has pledged to support technically the ongoing investigation of the crash of Indonesia's Lion Air flight 610, after an preliminary report issued on Wednesday indicated faulty sensors on the Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane.
The brand new aircraft plunged into the Java Sea 13 minutes after taking off from Jakarta international airport on Oct. 29, killing all 189 people on board.
"Boeing is taking every measure to fully understand all aspects of this accident, working closely with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board as technical advisors to support the NTSC as the investigation continues," the Chicago-based aircraft maker said in a statement.
Earlier Wednesday, Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) released a preliminary report, showing that the Lion Air pilots tried to control the aircraft as its automatic safety system repeatedly pushed the plane's nose down shortly after take-off.
NTSC investigator Nurcahyato Utomo said that the captain sent an urgency message to air traffic controllers that they were in a "failure situation," when the pilots struggled to bring the plane's nose up but an automated anti-stall system was pushing it down.
The two-month old plane reportedly had issues with the "angle of attack" (AOA) and speed indicator sensors during its previous flights.
However, the NTSC has not yet unveiled the definitive cause of the crash, adding that it will keep searching for another black box, the cockpit voice recorder, which can reveal the final discussion between the pilots.
The NTSC also recommended that Lion Air improve its safety culture.
Earlier this month, Boeing reportedly issued a safety bulletin to airlines, directing flight crews to "existing flight crew procedure" on how they should respond to erroneous data for the sensor which monitors aircraft's AOA.
Boeing insisted in its statement that passengers "have our assurance that the 737 MAX is as safe as any airplane that has ever flown the skies."
