Posted on 03/29/2019 8:59:45 AM PDT by C19fan
It’s horrible news, but with a silver lining for Boeing and the FAA. Investigators have determined that the stall-detection system at the heart of an earlier Boeing 737 Max jet crash late last year also activated in the Ethiopian Airlines crash earlier this month. No final conclusions have emerged in either investigation, but the news confirms suspicions that Boeing’s new MCAS system on the 737 Max platform played significant roles in both deadly crashes:
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
So nothing has actually been confirmed...like the headline indicates
About $2 billion, I suspect.
The airplane was doing what it was supposed to do.
The pilots didn’t know how to handle it.
I agree. The trim wheels are large and make noise when they move on the 737. That they were being used automatically to pitch the nose down would have been obvious.
What was confirmed was that the MCAS system was triggered and ONLY that system. Indicating that it is a software failure, not another system on the aircraft. Boeing will utilized 2 independent systems for input to MCAS vice one in their software update.
Why would it be so difficult for a pilot to not put the nose up too high during takeoff? Wouldn’t it be better to not have any control software that “helps” that?
What do you expect with Affirmative Action Pilots.
Seems to me Boeing should be in a heap of trouble. The FAA, who certifies planes, is culpable too.
This had it’s beginnings in American Airlines informing BA that they are close to purchasing a few from Airbus. Boeing then pushed their prized H1B’s to work round the clock to develop the MAX.
Inherently unstable due to the money saving modern engines (would not redesign the airframe), they hastily created software to ‘fix’ the problem.
Was the MAX thoroughly tested before delivery? Maybe not.
Some lawyers are about to become very rich.
You know that how?
“What do you expect with Affirmative Action Pilots.”
Maybe.
Maybe you shouldn’t ignore Boeing’s coveted H1B darlings.
I think secondary safeguards are in order, but they should never second guess and override the human crew. Just like a car, one tap of the brake pedal should turn off the cruise control until it is manually turned back on. In these planes there should be a simple “panic button” that shuts it all off until manually turned back on by a human.
If you don't want to sit through the explanation, here is the video cued up to where the flight simulator is showing how MCAS (and pitch trim) works on the 737:
Boeing is making a safe system safer, maybe. To put it bluntly, they are trying to protect their plane from bad pilots.
The new software will use input from both AOA sensors. If they disagree by more than 5.5% the MCAS will be disabled. Hopefully there will be pilots who can handle that, log the problem, and the airline will replace the sensor.
Good comment. Thank you.
It almost always comes back to root Corporate decisions doesn’t it? They expect miracles and have no clue about cause and effect.
Sort of off topic, but I would think the plane as built would be less efficient as you are causing drag on the rear stabilizer to keep the plane trimmed properly.
Would be interesting to hear where this software was written and tested, or perhaps where the developers were educated and trained.
Primarily because the stall characteristics changed between the previous model and the MAX. The previous model was more pilot friendly, and well behaved, while the new model’s larger and somewhat awkwardly located engines made it more unstable.
As a result, a pilot who was used to the prior stall characteristics, and who did not adjust their flyout to the new plane’s profile could conceivably stall the plane. That would be bad.
Hence, the software ‘fix’ to make the plane more pilot friendly and reduce the need for re-training.
Yeah, that didn’t work out too good.
I think you know the rest of the story from here.
I wonder if the flight data recorder revealed whether or not the aircrew turned on the AOA and Pitot heaters.
Well said in summary.
I would add that more carriers are hiring "systems managers" instead of pilots.
In recent accidents back to Air France 447 there has been repeated evidence of too much dependence on aircraft systems and not enough on simple piloting skills.
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