It may only be a preliminary conclusion. But based on available information it is obvious that it is the right one. Might the pilots have been able to save the plane. Maybe. But they should not have been put in that position to begin with. What really matters is that Boeing is firstly responsible. In any real design environment the first thing you would do is to simulate the the failure of a sensor and design to safeguard the system in that event. And now they are indirectly admitting it.
Boeing hasn’t admitted anything, actually. The fact that the MCAS system can be improved does not make it the cause of the crash.
For one thing, maintenance was done on the AoA system on the Lion Air flight just prior to the crash, and other pilots successfully handled the AoA problems on previous flights.
For another thing, we have pilot reports of 737Max nose down problems when the MCAS system was inactive. These happened when the auto-pilot was engaged, and went away when the auto-pilot was disengaged. They pretty much could not have been caused by the MCAS system.
So, fixing MCAS may not stop the crashes at all.
“The Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed killing 157 people was making a strange rattling noise and trailed smoke and debris as it swerved above a field of panicked cows before hitting earth, according to witnesses.”
Of course, we all know how unreliable a witness can be, but this is apparently several witnesses.
Still, take it with a salt mine...