發表評論-Pascal-萬維博客-萬維讀者網（電腦版）

A screw-like device found in the wreckage of the Boeing Co. 737 Max 8 that crashed Sunday in Ethiopia has provided investigators with an early clue into what happened, as work begins in France to decode the black boxes recovered from the scene.

The position of the so-called jackscrew, used to set the trim that raises and lowers the plane’s nose, indicates the jet was configured to dive, based on a preliminary review, according to a person familiar with the investigation. The evidence helped persuade U.S. regulators to ground the model, said the person, who requested anonymity to discuss the inquiry.

France’s aviation safety agency BEA received the cockpit voice and data recorders on Thursday for decoding, while investigators on the scene near Addis Ababa continue to sift through the plane’s wreckage. The second crash in five months has thrown Boeing into a crisis, sending the shares plunging and raising questions about the future of its best-selling jet.

Read: 737 Max Crashes Put Boeing’s Reputation on the Line

Boeing Rises on AFP Report on Upgrade Timing: 737 Max Update

Separately, the New York Times reported that doomed Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 to Nairobi was in trouble almost immediately after takeoff as it lurched up and down by hundreds of feet at a time. The captain asked in a panicky voice to turn back only three minutes into the flight as the plane accelerated to abnormal speeds, the newspaper reported, citing a person who reviewed the jet’s air traffic communications.

“Break break, request back to home,” he told air traffic controllers as they scrambled to divert two other flights approaching the airport. The aircraft had accelerated far beyond what is considered standard practice. All contact between air controllers and the aircraft was lost five minutes after it took off, the report said.

Read: Black Box Politics: How National Pride Intrudes on Crash Probes

Federal Aviation Administration chief Daniel Elwell on Wednesday cited unspecified evidence found at the crash scene as part of the justification for the agency to reverse course and temporarily halt flights of Boeing’s largest selling aircraft. Up until then, American regulators had held off even as nation after nation had grounded the model.

President Donald Trump spoke with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to discuss the crash, Ethiopia’s Fana Broadcasting Corporate reported Friday.

Boeing shares reversed earlier losses after Agence France-Presse reported, citing people it didn’t identify, that the planemaker plans to roll out a software update for 737 Max stall prevention in about 10 days. Boeing reaffirmed in an email that the upgrade will be rolled out in the coming weeks without providing a more specific timetable. The shares rose 2.1 percent to $381.16 at 12:48 p.m. in New York.

Read more: Chart on Boeing’s drop in market value

The jackscrew, combined with a newly obtained satellite flight track of the plane, convinced the FAA that there were similarities to the Oct. 29 crash of the same Max model off the coast of Indonesia. In the earlier accident, a safety feature on the Boeing aircraft was repeatedly trying to put the plane into a dive as a result of a malfunction.

All 157 people aboard died after the plane crashed near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital. The jet’s flight recorders are in France, where they are being analyzed at the BEA’s laboratories. The agency posted a photo of the mangled hardware and has yet to comment on any progress on getting the data. “The investigation process has started in Paris,” Ethiopian Airlines said in a Twitter post on Friday.

升級版谷歌同志一秒鐘完工譯文：

星期天在埃塞俄比亞墜毀的波音公司737 Max 8殘骸中發現的

螺旋狀裝置為研究人員提供了發生事故的早期線索，因為在法國

開始解碼從現場恢復的黑匣子。

據熟悉調查的人士透露，所謂的頂推螺絲的位置，用於設定提升

和降低飛機機頭的裝飾，表明噴氣機事先被配置為向下俯衝，

根據初步審查。這位不願透露姓名的人士表示，該證據有助於

說服美國監管機構對該模式進行調查。

法國航空安全機構BEA周四接收了駕駛艙語音和數據記錄器進行

解碼，而在亞的斯亞貝巴附近的現場調查人員繼續篩選飛機的

殘骸。五個月內的第二起事故讓波音公司陷入危機之中，股價

暴跌，並對其最暢銷的噴氣式飛機的未來提出質疑。