Plane crash investigations raise new questions about Minnesota-made sensor

Ethiopia Plane Crash
This aerial image taken Friday, March 15, 2019, shows recovery work continuing at the scene where an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed shortly after takeoff the previous Sunday.
Yidnek Kirubel | AP

As investigators work to determine the cause of last week's fatal Ethiopian Airlines crash — and the Lion Air crash on a similar plane just months ago — a sensor made by a Minnesota company is coming under scrutiny.

The company, Rosemount Aerospace in Burnsville, manufactures an angle-of-attack sensor that was aboard last October's ill-fated Lion Air flight and has been linked to at least one other deadly crash, according to reporting by the Washington Post. It's not clear whether the Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed used the same sensor.

MPR News host Cathy Wurzer spoke with Washington Post reporter Todd Frankel about what the sensors do, and why they're raising new questions for investigators now. Rosemount Aerospace's parent company, United Technologies, did not respond to a request for comment.

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