--- title: "Confused Pilots Were Reading Boeing 737 Handbook as Plane Crashed" description: "Pilots on board the Lion Air plane that crashed in October \"scoured a handbook as they struggled to understand why the jet was lurching downwards.\"" date: "2019-03-20" modified: "2019-03-20" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/lion-air-crash-handbook-black-box" categories: - "Boeing" - "Space" tags: - "boeing" - "lion air" - "plane crash" - "safety" --- # Confused Pilots Were Reading Boeing 737 Handbook as Plane Crashed ![Pilots on board the Lion Air plane that crashed in October "scoured a handbook as they struggled to understand why the jet was lurching downwards."]() *\Image: Cory W. Watts via Flickr/Victor Tangermann\* ## Crash Details *Reuters* broke a horrifying story today, revealing that the pilots on board the doomed Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX airplane "scoured a handbook as they struggled to understand why the jet was lurching downwards." It's an apparently damning revelation about the highly sophisticated features of Boeing's popular line of commercial jets — and perhaps a warning overly-complex automated flying systems. ## Black Box Lion Air Flight 610 crashed in October, killing all 189 people on board. A second Boeing MAX plane, operated by Ethiopian Airlines, crashed on March 10, killing 157. Investigators have been piecing together details of the October wreck, but the new revelation marks the first time information about the crash has been revealed to the public, according to *Reuters*. ## Like Failing a Test After finding a problem on the captain's display, the captain asked the first officer to "check the quick reference handbook, which contains checklists for abnormal events," according to *Reuters'* sources. The jet's nose kept pushing down as a result of it sensing a stall. Even with the pilots giving altitude correction commands, the nose of the jet kept dipping. "It is like a test where there are 100 questions and when the time is up you have only answered 75," an anonymous source told *Reuters*. "So you panic. It is a time-out condition." Nine minutes later, the jet crashed into the water. ## Software Enhancements A day after this month's Ethiopian Airlines crash, Boeing promised a software "enhancement" for its all of its Boeing 737 Max jets. Included in the update: "angle of attack (AOA) inputs, limits stabilizer trim commands in response to an erroneous angle of attack reading." Despite the new information, the exact cause of the Lion air crash — and the Ethiopian Airlines crash — still haven't been confirmed. **READ MORE:** [Exclusive: Cockpit voice recorder of doomed Lion Air jet depicts pilots' frantic search for fix - sources]() \[*Reuters*\] **More on Boeing's MAX plane:** *[Boeing promises software update for plane that crashed]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()