FAA to open proceeding on fatal Boeing crashes

FILE PHOTO: A Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft is parked at a Boeing production facility in Renton, Washington, U.S., March 11, 2019. REUTERS/David Ryder/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday it plans to open a proceeding into two fatal Boeing Co 737 MAX 8 plane crashes after it said data showed "some similarities" in the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashes.

The FAA gave an emergency order, temporarily grounding the planes over the two crashes "that warrant further investigation of the possibility of shared cause."

The decision was made after "new information from the wreckage concerning the aircraft's configuration just after takeoff ... taken together with newly refined data from satellite-based tracking of the aircraft's flight path."

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Nick Zieminski)