Ethiopian crash investigators find piece of wreckage with similar setting to Lion Air plane: Sources

Wang Shoubao | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images

Rescuers work beside the wreckage of an Ethiopian Airlines’ aircraft at the crash site, some 50 km east of Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, on March 10, 2019. All 157 people aboard Ethiopian Airlines flight were confirmed dead as Africa’s fastest growing airline witnessed the worst incident in its history. The Sunday crash, which involved a Boeing 737-800 MAX, occurred a few minutes after the aircraft took off from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport to Nairobi, Kenya. It crashed around Bishoftu town, the airline said. (Xinhua/Wang Shoubao) (Xinhua/ via Getty Images)

Investigators have found a piece of a stabilizer in the wreckage of an Ethiopian jet with the trim set in an unusual position similar to that of a Lion Air plane that crashed last year, two sources familiar with the matter said.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Wednesday fresh information from the wreckage of the Ethiopian crash, which killed all 157 people on board, and newly refined data about its flight path indicated some similarities with the Lion Air disaster.

Both accidents involved Boeing 737 MAX planes. The FAA and other global regulators grounded the fleet after the Ethiopian crash.

The FAA has not publicly released details of its findings from the Ethiopian wreckage.

The trim position of the stabilizer, which moves the jet’s horizontal tail, could help determine whether or not it was set nose down for a steep dive.

The two sources, who declined to be named, said part of a stabilizer found in the Ethiopian wreckage was in a unusual position similar to the Lion Air plane.

Some media organizations, including Bloomberg, had earlier reported the discovery of part of the stabilizer.