In May 2019 the Wall Street Journal reported that four weeks after faulty sensor data helped bring down a 737 Max in Indonesia, a Boeing executive raised and then dismissed the possibility that a bird collision scenario could create a similar disaster, a discussion that later mattered for understanding Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.
Investigators and families focused on how the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System reacted to bad angle-of-attack data. Internal company talk about other trigger paths became part of the public fight over what Boeing knew and when.
ET302 remains the deadliest single aviation event of Abiy Ahmed’s early years for Ethiopia’s national carrier. Corporate email and meeting notes still shape that record.
Kept as ET302 investigation archive, the WSJ report dates a specific Boeing internal judgment that critics later read against the Ethiopian crash.
Sources: Wall Street Journal