Ethiopian Airlines pilots reportedly followed Boeing's emergency procedures before crash

New information on a deadly plane crash in Ethiopia may undermine Boeing's claims about a suspect piece of software on its new 737 Max jets. Reports Wednesday morning say the Ethiopian Airlines pilots turned off the system designed to prevent the plane from stalling – but somehow it then started again.

The Boeing 737 Max remains grounded over software problems linked to two crashes that killed more than 300 people. New reports indicate the crew of the Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed shortly after takeoff reportedly did follow Boeing emergency procedures to turn off an anti-stall system, but may have turned it back on in an effort to regain control of the plane.

Reporting by Reuters and the Wall Street Journal broke overnight and indicates that system may have activated as many as four times, leaving the pilots unable to regain altitude.

On Tuesday the Senate Commerce Committee announced it was investigating the FAA's approval of the Max, citing whistleblower reports questioning the training of FAA inspectors. These reports bring into question what Boeing and the FAA have been saying about the ease of turning off the stall-prevention feature.

After the crash of Lion Air Flight 610 that killed 189 back in October, an alert was sent to pilots explaining the existing procedures to use. The 737 Max series was grounded in March until there is a fix to the software.

On Monday, Boeing announced that the fix could take a few weeks longer than originally believed.