Pictures Raise Specter of Fake Evidence in 737 Max Crash Probe
(Bloomberg) -- Weeks after a Lion Air jet crashed in the Java Sea, killing all 189 aboard, an airline employee gave investigators photographs meant to show that a crucial repair had been properly performed the day before the disaster.
Yet the pictures may not show what was claimed.
The time displayed in photos of a computer screen in the cockpit of the Boeing Co. 737 Max indicated they had actually been taken before the repair was performed, according to a draft of the final crash report being prepared by Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee, portions of which were reviewed by Bloomberg News.
Investigators were similarly unable to confirm the authenticity of other pictures in the packet, which were supposed to show how a piece of equipment near the jet’s nose had been calibrated, according to the report. There were indications that the pictures depicted a different plane, according to two people familiar with the investigation.
The draft report doesn’t say whether anyone falsified or misrepresented the pictures -- which would be considered a serious breach of protocol -- but concludes that they may not be valid evidence. The incident injected additional tension into the already fraught international investigation in which billions of dollars and the reputations of airlines, manufacturers and entire nations are on the line.
According to one person briefed on the matter, the Indonesia-based airline has told investigators that the allegations about the photos are unsubstantiated and shouldn’t be mentioned in the final report of the October 2018 crash. But to others involved in one of the most significant accident probes in decades, it could represent an attempt to mislead investigators about a critical aspect of the case and needs to be documented, said two other people who were briefed about the existence of the photos.
Lion Air spokesman Danang Prihantoro said that he could not comment on the investigation. Representatives of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing and National Transportation Safety Board declined to comment on the existence of the photos.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones” of those who died in the Lion Air crash and a second one less than five months later in Ethiopia, said Charles Bickers, a spokesman for Chicago-based Boeing. “We continue to provide support to and cooperate fully with the investigating authorities as they complete the final reports on the accidents.”
Indonesia’s NTSC, which is overseeing the investigation, is finalizing the report and expects to release it by early November. Anggo Anurogo, a spokesman for the investigation agency, said it wouldn’t comment on the report prior to its release.
“We have obtained plenty of documents,” NTSC Chairman Soerjanto Tjahjono said in an earlier interview. “Anything that is relevant to the investigation will be included in the final report.”
Portions of the draft reviewed by Bloomberg News say an engineer gave the photos to investigators to show that the replacement of a sensor on the plane on Oct. 28 had been done properly. The sensor, known as an “angle-of-attack” vane, was malfunctioning on the very next flight as well as the one the next day that crashed and is at the heart of the investigation, according to an NTSC preliminary report released last November.
Some of the images were taken of the inside of an equipment compartment where the faulty sensor was attached, according to the people familiar with the investigation. Part of the calibration process occurs in that location.
Visible in the background of these photos was other equipment with identification marks, the people said. Officials at Boeing were able to trace at least one of the devices to a different 737 Max jet operated by Lion Air, they said.
Other photos were shot in a 737 Max cockpit, where mechanics check to see that the sensor is providing accurate readings, the people said. Those photos showed the captain’s flight display, but the time shown on its digital clock was prior to the repair being performed, according to the draft report.
Lion Air, which was already pushing back on preliminary conclusions by investigators, has challenged assertions that the photos were falsified and asked the NTSC not to include the pictures and any reference to them in its final report, according to one person familiar with the airline’s view of the matter.
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