The "Max" is a complete redesign of the 737 which has been the workhorse of most airlines for decades. Very common to fly a 737 that has been in use for 30+ years. The Max was designed to rebuild it with new materials and aeronautics. I flew in United's first Max last fall on a flight from Houston to Austin...it had been in service about two weeks.
The first Max had a problem with the computer controls and that is why it crashed.
Preliminary report[edit]
On 28 November, the Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) released its preliminary accident investigation report.
[144] After
airspeed and altitude problems, an AoA sensor was replaced and tested two days earlier on the accident aircraft.
[145] Erroneous airspeed indications were still present on the subsequent flight on 28 October, which experienced automatic nose down
trim.
[145] The runaway
stabilizer non-normal
checklist was run, the electric stabilizer trim was turned off, and the flight continued with manual trim; the issues were reported after landing.
[145] Shortly after takeoff on 29 October, issues involving altitude and airspeed continued due to erroneous AoA data and commanded automatic nose-down trim via the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS).
[145] The flight crew repeatedly commanded nose-up trim over the final ten minutes of the flight.
[145] The report does not state whether the runaway stabilizer trim procedure was run or whether the electric stabilizer trim switches were cut out on the accident flight.
[145]
Leeham News, which principally covers
Airbus, Boeing,
Bombardier and
Embraer issues,
[146] reported that the crew did not have a clear knowledge of the trim runaway checklist which all 737 crews are required to know, and that the MCAS was going to be updated to operate from multiple, verified AoA signals.
[147]
Boeing pointed to the successful troubleshooting conducted on 28 October as evidence that the MCAS did not change runaway stabilizer procedures,
[148] and emphasised the longstanding existence of procedures to cancel MCAS nose-down commands.
[149]
Lion Air co-founder and former CEO Rusdi Kirana, currently the Indonesian ambassador to Malaysia, reportedly considered cancelling Lion Air's outstanding 190 Boeing aircraft orders — worth some $22 billion at list prices — over what he viewed as an attempt by Boeing to blame Lion Air for the crash.
[149] On 31 December, the family of the first officer filed a lawsuit against Boeing, claiming negligence. The lawsuit also claimed that the aircraft's sensors provided inaccurate flight data causing its anti-stall system to improperly engage, as well as Boeing not providing proper instructions to pilots about how to handle the situation.
[150]
I'll bet they now ground the Max until further evaluation is completed. I can tell you, as a 1k flier per year, I'll be avoiding it until further review.