The Ethiopian Airlines disaster eight days ago killed 157 people,led to the grounding of Boeing's marquee MAX fleet globally and sparked a high-stakes inquiry for the aviation industry.
Analysis of the cockpit recorder showed its so-called"angle of attack"data was"very,very similar"to the Lion Air jet that came down off Jakarta in October,killing 189 people,a person familiar with the investigation said.
The angle of attack is a fundamental parameter of flight,measuring the degrees between the air flow and the wing. If it is too high,it can throw the plane into an aerodynamic stall.
A flight deck computer's response to an apparently faulty angle of attack sensor is at the heart of the ongoing probe into the Lion Air crash.
Ethiopia's Transport Ministry,France's BEA air accident authority and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have all said data shows similarities between the two disasters.
Both planes were 737 MAX 8s and crashed minutes after takeoff,with pilots reporting flight control problems.
Under scrutiny is a new automated system in the 737 MAX model that guides the nose lower to avoid stalling.