According to the Journal, the Department of Transportation is looking into the aircraft's flight safety system which may have played a role in both crashes. It quotes unidentified people familiar with both cases. All 189 people on board were killed in the crash.
Minister Moges disclosed that the events leading up to the March 10, 2019 crash had "clear similarities" to Lion Air flight 610 crash that happened in Indonesia in October 2018.
Under global rules, a preliminary report on the crash must be released within 30 days. The FAA would not comment.
Dagmawit Moges, the Ethiopian Transport Minister, told journalists on Sunday, March 17 that the black box of the Ethiopian flight is in very good condition and all the data and recorders are clear.
Black box data recovered from the Lion Air crash indicated the MCAS had reset itself 21 times, repeatedly pushing the plane's nose down.
The Seattle Times said it reached out to the FAA and Boeing with the details of the report prior to the Ethiopian Air crash.
Both planes flew with erratic altitude changes that could indicate the pilots struggled to control the aircraft. The plane crashed shortly after takeoff and investigators suspect a flaw in the system's anti-stall system caused it, CNN reports.
Boeing said it supports the grounding of its planes as a precautionary step, while reiterating "full confidence" in their safety. Engineers are making changes to the system created to prevent an aerodynamic stall if sensors detect that the jet's nose is pointed too high and its speed is too slow.
A preliminary report about the causes of the Lion Air crash pointed to erroneous data from a sensor causing the aircraft's new automated stabilizer system to push the jet's nose down.
Meanwhile, the U.S. agency that regulates civil aviation said Sunday it followed "standard" procedures in certifying the Boeing jetliner.
In one of the most detailed descriptions yet of the relationship between Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration during the 737 Max's certification process, the Seattle Times reported Sunday that the US regulator delegated much of the safety assessment to Boeing and that the analysis the planemaker in turn delivered to the authorities had crucial flaws. That means Boeing should be able to solve the problem, Schwieterman said.