One day before the deadly crash of a Lion Air flight on Oct. 29 last year, pilots flying that Boeing 737 Max 8 plane lost control of the aircraft, Bloomberg reported. An off-duty pilot riding in the cockpit helped the crew identify the problem and guided them to disable the flight control system in order to save the plane, according to the report. One day before the deadly crash of a Lion Air plane on Oct. 29 last year, pilots flying that Boeing BA 737 Max 8 lost control of the aircraft — but they were saved by an off-duty colleague riding in the cockpit, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.