Boeing will make standard on its troubled new airliner a safety feature that might have helped the crew of a jet that crashed shortly after take-off last year in Indonesia, killing everyone on board. The equipment, which had been offered as an option, alerts pilots of faulty information from key sensors. It will now be included on every 737 Max as part of changes that Boeing is rushing to complete on the jets by early next week, according to a person familiar with the changes. Boeing and federal regulators are still discussing details of the upgrade to the Max fleet. The cause of the accidents has not been determined, but investigators probing the crash of a Lion Air Max jet have focused on an automated system designed to use information from two sensors to help prevent a dangerous aerodynamic stall. <br/>
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A senior Boeing executive defended the company’s aircraft design and production processes in the wake of 2 fatal crashes of its 737 MAX airliner, and said fixes to software linked to at least one of those crashes should be ready within weeks. Boeing’s commercial plane marketing VP, Randy Tinseth, said he had “great confidence” in the 737 MAX and the process by which Boeing devised the plane. “I know the discipline and rigor of our design process. I know the integrity of our production process,” he said at an investors’ briefing in London. US officials, including the Justice Department and the DoT’s Inspector General, are scrutinising steps taken by Boeing and the FAA, to get the MAX into service. Congress also has scheduled hearings. <br/>