By Hannah Thomas-Peter, US correspondent

Boeing has vowed to do all it can to prevent crashes like the two in recent months that left nearly 350 people dead.

Its 737 MAX planes, which were involved in the Lion Air incident in Indonesia and more recently the Ethiopian Airline crash, have been grounded world-wide.

During a carefully-managed media event, in which Boeing refused to take any on camera or on the record questions, Boeing's vice president of product strategy Mike Sinnett said in a prepared statement: "We're going to do everything that we can do to ensure that accidents like these never happen again.

"We're working with customers and regulators…to restore faith in our industry and also to reaffirm our commitment to safety and to earning the trust of the flying public."

The two crashes have been described by experts as similar, with both planes plunging towards the earth shortly after take-off.

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Image: The Lion Air flight crashed off Indonesia in October last year

Investigators said the Lion Air pilots battled in vain to over-ride the manoeuvring characteristics augmentation system (MCAS) which was fed faulty data and repeatedly pushed the nose of the aircraft down.

Boeing says its new fixes make MCAS less powerful and less prone to error, as well as making it easier for the flight crew to monitor whether the sensors that feed MCAS information are accurate.

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The company has also proposed extra computer-based training for pilots, although it will not be recommending time in a simulator.

A TUI Boeing 737 MAX 8 at Manchester Airport after the planes were grounded
Image: All Boeing 737 MAX 8s were grounded after the Ethiopian crash

Boeing continues to build its MAX planes but cannot say when they will return to service.

That decision will be made by regulators across the world who will have to re-certify the aircraft as safe.

America's regulator, the Federal Aviation Authority, is under huge pressure to explain itself.

Politicians have accused it of giving Boeing too much freedom to certify the MAX aircraft before it took to thRead More – Source

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