The family of the Indonesian co-pilot of a Lion Air plane that crashed in October, killing all 189 people on board, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Boeing in Chicago, adding to ongoing lawsuits against the manufacturer in its hometown.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Cook County, Illinois, alleges that the Boeing 737 MAX 8 operated by Lion Air was unduly dangerous because its sensors provided inconsistent information to each the pilots and the plane.
Boeing declined to comment on the pending litigation.
Lion Air Flight JT610 crashed on October 29 after taking off from Jakarta within the Java Sea.
The grievance was filed on behalf of pilot Harvino’s widow and three children, all from Jakarta.
It also alleges that the upkeep manuals provided by Boeing with the two-month-old plane were inadequate, resulting in the deaths of pilots, crew and passengers. Harvino used one name.
In a press release, law firm Gardiner Koch Weisberg & Wrona said Harvino and Flight 610 captain Bhayve Suneja were experienced pilots who had logged greater than 5,000 and 6,000 flight hours, respectively, before the crash.
At least two other lawsuits have been filed against Boeing in Chicago by Lion Air victims.
An initial report by Indonesian investigators focused on airline maintenance and training and the response of the Boeing’s anti-stall system to a recently replaced sensor, but didn’t provide a cause for the crash.
One of the investigators, Nurcahyo Utomo, told reporters it was too early to find out whether the cause was a new edition of the anti-stall system, which was not explained to the pilots of their instructions.
