US lawsuit blames Lion Air crash on Boeing's 'dangerous' airplane

Yahoo – AFP, December 26, 2018

Relatives of the 189 victims of the Lion Air crash in October holding a rally to demand
 further search operations for the remains of the missing in December 2018: a
 lawsuit has now been filed against the plane's maker, Boeing (AFP Photo/ADEK BERRY)

Chicago (AFP) - A lawsuit filed in Chicago blames Boeing for the deadly Lion Air crash off the coast of Indonesia that killed all onboard, claiming the manufacturer's airplane was "unreasonably dangerous," a US law firm announced Wednesday.

The suit, filed Monday in the Midwestern city where Boeing is based, alleges the two-month-old plane's safety system improperly engaged and pilots were not adequately instructed by the plane manufacturer on how to respond.

Lion Air Flight 610 vanished from radar 13 minutes after taking off from Jakarta on October 29, crashing into waters off the north coast of Indonesia's Java Island and killing all 189 people onboard.

About 30 relatives of the crash victims have filed lawsuits against Boeing, alleging that faults with the new model 737 MAX led to the deaths.

The Chicago lawsuit was filed on behalf of the family of passenger Sudibyo Onggo Wardoyo, 40, of Jakarta.

"Not only did Boeing place sensors that provided inaccurate data, it also failed to provide the plane's pilots adequate instructions. It was like Boeing first blindfolded and then tied the hands of the pilots," the family's attorney Thomas Demetrio said in a statement.

The preliminary crash report from Indonesia's transport safety agency suggested that pilots struggled to control the plane's anti-stalling system immediately before the crash.

Boeing responded to the November report by pointing to the actions of the pilots and claiming an earlier flight on the same plane ended safely when pilots successfully dealt with erroneous sensor data.

"The 737 MAX is as safe as any airplane that has ever flown the skies," the manufacturer said in a statement.

"Boeing is taking every measure to fully understand all aspects of this accident," it added.

A Boeing spokesman would not comment on the specifics of the lawsuit.

A final crash report is not likely to be filed until next year.

Electric wagons are unsafe, road ban remains in force

DutchNews, December 13, 2018

Two Stints in action. Photo: Stintum.nl

The electric wagons known as Stints which hundreds of daycare centres use to ferry children around are not safe enough to be on the public roads, the TNO research institute says in a new report. 

The institute was commissioned to look into stint safety by transport minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen following September’s fatal crash in which a wagon ploughed into a train, killing four children. 

Van Nieuwenhuizen immediately banned the wagons from the roads. 

The TNO report says the wagons can only be allowed back into traffic after modifications have been carried out. In particular, there are problems with the braking system, the report said. 

The minister told a news conference on Thursday she realises that the ban has caused problems for users but that ‘safety has priority’. She will hold talks with the child care sector about the difficulties they now face next week. 

2011 

Stints made their debuts on the Dutch roads in 2011 via legislation covering ‘special scooters’ – a new category of road transport introduced to cover Segways. MPs and ministers were keen to encourage new forms of transport and did not introduce extra safety measures so as not to dent innovation. 

Two road safety organisations checked the electric wagons in 2011 and both said they had doubts about their safety, broadcaster NOS said on Thursday afternoon. Nevertheless, both ministers and parliament decided to set their objections aside and press ahead with the introduction. 

MPs have described Thursday’s findings as shocking. ‘Public safety is paramount but that seems not to have been the case over the past few years,’ Socialist MP Cem Lacin told NOS. ‘An unsafe vehicle has bee used on the roads for years.’ 

Some 3,500 wagons are thought to have been in use prior to the ban. As well as daycare centres, they were used by several delivery companies, including PostNL.