Officials probing the crash in Ethiopia of a Boeing 737 Max have preliminarily concluded that a flight-control feature automatically activated before it crashed, the Wall Street Journal says.
The newspaper, citing unnamed sources, says the findings were relayed on Thursday at a briefing at the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The flight-control feature is meant to help prevent the plane from stalling.
Boeing said it could not comment as the investigation was still underway.
It said all enquiries should be referred to the investigating authorities and the BBC has approached the FAA for a response.
Meanwhile, Ethiopia’s Ministry of Transport said: “We have seen the WSJ report. We’ll comment shortly.”
Thursday also saw what is thought to be the first lawsuit filed on the crash.
The Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) flight-control feature was also implicated in a fatal crash by Lion Air flight in Indonesia last year.
Together, the two crashes have claimed 346 lives.
