Investigators have reportedly found more evidence that could connect the Ethiopian Boeing 737 Max crash to a deadly accident five months before

Saul Loeb/AFP

A Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft.

• New evidence has reportedly emerged from the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 crash that could be another connection to the previous deadly Lion Air Boeing crash in October 2018, Reuters reported Friday.
• According to Reuters, investigators at the crash site found a piece of equipment from the plane that suggests the plane's stabilizers were tilted upward, which would have then forced down the nose of the jet. Sources said that the stabilizer was in a similar position to the Lion Air plane crash.
• Sources familiar with the matter told The New York Times that this new evidence played a part in American regulators' decision to ground 737 Max planes earlier this week.

New evidence has emerged from the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max crash that connect it to the previous deadly Lion Air Boeing crash in October 2018, Reuters reported Friday.

According to Reuters, investigators at the crash site found a piece of equipment from the plane that suggests its stabilizers were tilted upward, which would have then forced down the nose of the jet. Sources told Reuters that the stabilizer was in a similar position to the Lion Air plane crash.

The piece of equipment found is known as a jackscrew, which controls the angle of the horizontal stabilizers. These stabilizers can be triggered by the automated system, which is known as MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System), The New York Times reported.

The authorities are currently looking into whether MCAS could be behind the Lion Air crash.

MCAS is designed to counteract the plane's tendency to tip its nose upward during flight, which increases the likelihood of a stall by pointing the nose downward. This was a by-product of the Max's larger, more fuel-efficient engines, which disrupted the plane's center of gravity.

Reports from the Lion Air investigation indicate that a faulty sensor reading may have triggered MCAS shortly after the flight took off.

Read more: Everything we know about Ethiopian Airlines' deadly crash of a Boeing 737 Max 8, the second disaster involving the plane in 5 months

Sources familiar with the matter told The Times that this new evidence played a part in American regulators' decision to ground 737 Max planes earlier this week.

"The FAA is ordering the temporary grounding of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft operated by U.S. airlines or in U.S. territory," the organization announced Wednesday. "The agency made this decision as a result of the data gathering process and new evidence collected at the site and analyzed today. This evidence, together with newly refined satellite data available to FAA this morning, led to this decision."

The crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 killed all 157 people on board. The US, Canada, Britain, Australia, China, France, and more have grounded their Boeing 737 Max 8 fleets since then.