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   From: burr-head.airlines@cnn.com   
      
   Boeing jets in Ethiopia and Indonesia lacked two safety features   
   in their cockpits because the company charged extra to install   
   them.   
      
   The features could have helped the pilots detect erroneous   
   readings, which some experts believe might be connected to the   
   planes’ failures, The New York Times reports.   
      
   Boeing will now make the disagree light free of charge on all   
   new 737 Max planes, the paper said.   
      
   Boeing jets in Ethiopia and Indonesia lacked two safety features   
   in their cockpits because the company charged extra to install   
   them.   
      
   The features could have helped pilots detect erroneous readings,   
   which some experts believe might be connected to the planes’   
   failures, The New York Times reports.   
      
   Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, which   
   crashed within five months of each other, were brand new but   
   were not equipped with an angle of attack indicator or an angle   
   of attack disagree light, the paper said. The angle of attack   
   indicator determines how much the plane’s nose is tilted, and   
   the disagree light is activated if the jet’s sensors are giving   
   contradictory signals.   
      
   Boeing will now make the disagree light free of charge on all   
   new 737 Max planes, after the deadly crashes caused all the Max   
   planes to be grounded, according to the Times. The angle of   
   attack indicator will remain an option that airlines can   
   purchase, the report said. The company is also planning a new   
   software update.   
      
   Neither safety feature was mandated by the Federal Aviation   
   Administration, but experts say it is key to flight safety.   
      
   “They’re critical, and cost almost nothing for the airlines to   
   install,” Bjorn Fehrm, an analyst at aviation consultancy   
   Leeham, told the Times. “Boeing charges for them because it can.   
   But they’re vital for safety.”   
      
   Boeing did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for   
   comment. Ethiopian Airlines said in a statement Thursday that   
   its pilots had been following FAA and Boeing guidance.   
      
   “Ethiopian Airlines pilots completed the Boeing recommended and   
   FAA approved differences training from the B-737 NG aircraft to   
   the B-737 MAX aircraft before the phase in of the B-737-8 MAX   
   fleet to the Ethiopian operation and before they start flying   
   the B-737-8 MAX,” the airline said in a statement.   
      
   “We urge all concerned to refrain from making such uninformed,   
   incorrect, irresponsible and misleading statements during the   
   period of the accident investigation. International regulations   
   require all stakeholders to wait patiently for the result of the   
   investigation,” it said.   
      
   It’s still unclear what caused the crashes. Investigators are   
   looking into whether a new software system added to combat   
   stalls in Boeing’s 737 Max series might have been a trigger, as   
   well as faulty data from sensors on the Lion Air plane that   
   might have caused a system malfunction.   
      
   Dennis A. Muilenburg, Boeing’s CEO, said the company was working   
   on making the 737 Max safer.   
      
   “As part of our standard practice following any accident, we   
   examine our aircraft design and operation, and when appropriate,   
   institute product updates to further improve safety,” he said in   
   a statement Sunday.   
      
   An email sent to Lion Air, outside regular business hours, was   
   not immediately answered.   
      
   The full New York Times story can be found on its website.   
      
   https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/21/crashed-boeing-jets-lacked-key-   
   safety-features-that-were-add-ons.html   
           
      
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