https://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/aviation/how-the-boeing-737-max-disaster-looks-to-a-software-developer
The Boeing 737 Max has been in the news because of two crashes, practically back to back and involving brand new airplanes.
“Everything about the design and manufacture of the Max was done to preserve the myth that ‘it’s just a 737.’ Recertifying it as a new aircraft would have taken years and millions of dollars. In fact, the pilot licensed to fly the 737 in 1967 is still licensed to fly all subsequent versions of the 737.”
But some things clearly went wrong on the design process. This article tries to find out what went wrong.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Why one leadership expert says Boeing is headed for an existential threat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dygy5RKMWgs
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Yale School of Management senior associate dean for leadership studies, joins ‘Squawk Box’ to discuss what he’s expecting from the Boeing hearings on Capitol Hill regarding the grounded 737 Max.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Exclusive Boeing 737 MAX Employee Interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCTqJwyREdg
Boeing has been at the centre of attention for months now following #ET302 and #JT610. In today’s video, I go over my interview with a Boeing employee who has not only worked for the company for decades but also works on the Boeing 737 MAX. I ask questions in regards to plant morale, the safety of the aircraft and more!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Pilots heard on audio recording pleading with Boeing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6vKrg2aCM8
American Airline pilot union officials met with Boeing engineers in Dallas after the first 737 Max crash and pushed them to take more action in a heated conversation.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rogue Boeing 737 Max planes ‘with minds of their own’ | 60 Minutes Australia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO7_indbfME
Liz Hayes investigates the disaster of Boeing’s 737 MAX jetliner. Why two supposedly state-of-the-art and safe planes crashed killing 346 people; why pilots now fear flying the 737 MAX; & whether Boeing could have averted the catastrophes.
Tomi Engdahl says:
When Will The 737 MAX Fly Again?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku6wpEboJW8
The Boeing 737 MAX has now been grounded for 2 months and is approaching its 3rd month on the ground. When will the type get flying again? In today’s video, I attempt to squash all rumours and give you firm, frankly negative answer regarding the 737 MAX!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Even if Boeing 737 Max jets are cleared to fly, Americans may not get on board
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ5smsrodSQ
There are new signs that the Boeing 737 Max won’t be flying passengers for a while. The Federal Aviation Administration met with foreign regulators in Fort Worth Thursday to discuss the jet’s future. Kris Van Cleave reports.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Boeing’s nightmare year gets even worse as it admits hundreds of planes — including 159 737 Maxes — may have defective parts on their wings
https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-737-planes-faulty-slat-tracks-warning-nightmare-year-2019-6?utm_content=buffercfd75&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer-bi&r=US&IR=T
Tomi Engdahl says:
Boeing sued by more than 400 pilots in class action over 737 MAX’s ‘unprecedented cover-up’
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-23/over-400-pilots-join-lawsuit-against-boeing-over-737-max/11238282?pfmredir=sm
More than 400 pilots have joined a class action against American plane manufacturer Boeing, seeking damages in the millions over what they allege was the company’s “unprecedented cover-up” of the “known design flaws” of the latest edition of its top-selling jet, the 737 MAX.
The claim hinges on a piece of software pilots say they weren’t told about
alleged that Boeing’s decisions have caused them to suffer from monetary loss and mental distress since the jet’s suspension.
“suffer and continue to suffer significant lost wages, among other economic and non-economic damages” since the fleet’s global grounding.
Boeing made a cockpit display alerting mismatched AOA readings to MAX pilots an optional extra.
The MAX’s competitor, the Airbus A320neo, relies on three sensors as a fail-safe.
Pilots allege that Boeing kept them in the dark about MCAS
In a rush to bring the plane to customers, Boeing did not alert pilots to the software in a bid to prevent “any new training that required a simulator” — a decision that was also designed to save MAX customers money.
Pilot X hopes profits won’t trump safety ever again
So far the FAA has not committed to a timetable for the jet’s return.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Boeing’s 737 Max Software Outsourced to $9-an-Hour Engineers
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-28/boeing-s-737-max-software-outsourced-to-9-an-hour-engineers
Planemaker and suppliers used lower-paid temporary workers
Engineers feared the practice meant code wasn’t done right
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-26/faa-finds-new-risk-on-737-max-and-orders-boeing-to-make-changes?utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_medium=social&cmpid=socialflow-facebook-business&utm_content=business
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://cnn.it/2IQtUV4
New flaw discovered on Boeing 737 Max, sources say
(CNN) – A new flaw has been discovered in the computer system for the Boeing 737 Max that could push the plane downward, according to two sources familiar with the testing, an issue that is expected to further delay the aircraft’s return to service.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Pilots Flagged Software Problems on Boeing Jets Besides Max
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-27/boeing-pilots-flagged-software-problems-on-jets-besides-the-max
Computer code in a typical plane has grown 40% in past decade
‘Issues in the software are cause for concern,’ pilot wrote
Pilots flying Boeing aircraft in recent years have reported flight-control problems they blamed on malfunctioning software — not on the company’s maligned 737 Max jets, but widely used earlier versions of the plane that are still in the air.
Commercial pilots flying Boeing’s NG, or “Next Generation,” models have registered concerns on a variety of computer problems through the Aviation Safety Reporting System,
Tomi Engdahl says:
New flaw discovered on Boeing 737 Max, sources say
https://edition-m.cnn.com/2019/06/26/politics/boeing-737-max-flaw/index.html?r=http%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com%2F
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/03/boeing-pledges-100m-to-families-of-737-max-crash-victims/
Tomi Engdahl says:
SPEEA engineer breaks silence on Boeing’s MAX 737. Read this letter
https://kuow.org/stories/boeing-engineers-break-silence-on-max-737-read-this-lette
A senior member of the union representing Boeing’s engineers says Boeing’s cost-cutting culture is to blame for production problems with the 737 MAX and other planes.
“The cost-cutting culture is the opposite of a culture built on productivity, innovation, safety or quality,” Sorscher writes.
“Production problems with the 787, 747-8 and now the 737 Max have cost billions of dollars, put airline customers at risk, and tarnished decades of accumulated goodwill and brand loyalty.”
Boeing engineers receive clear cultural messages that identifying problems is thought of by management as making trouble
cost-cutting and shareholder interests first.
Airline customers worry about price, delivery dates, training costs, spares, maintenance, and other factors, but overall, those considerations come out very close in the end.
The last major innovation in air travel was the jet engine in the 1950s.
cost-cutting culture is the opposite of a culture built on productivity, innovation, safety, or quality.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Boeing sued by more than 400 pilots in class action over 737 MAX’s ‘unprecedented cover-up’
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-23/over-400-pilots-join-lawsuit-against-boeing-over-737-max/11238282?pfmredir=sm
Tomi Engdahl says:
FAA discovers another potential risk with the Boeing 737 Max
https://www.engadget.com/2019/06/26/737-max-faa-boeing/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Boeing May Have To Cut 737 MAX Production Again
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremybogaisky/2019/07/19/boeing-may-have-to-cut-737-max-production-again/?utm_source=FBPAGE&utm_medium=social&utm_content=2489824093&utm_campaign=sprinklrForbesMainFB#25918d114dc2
The company is beginning to show the financial strain of the crisis, announcing Thursday that it would take a $4.9 billion charge in its second-quarter earnings to cover compensation to buyers of the plane, who have been forced to wait for delivery as Boeing works with aviation safety regulators to fix the problems that led to two deadly crashes that killed 346 people.
Kevin Michaels, managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory, sees a “30% to 40%” chance of a rate cut if the 737 MAX’s return to service slips to December or January. “It would be modest because it needs to keep the supply chain warm,” says Michaels. “Perhaps something like 36.”
In May, it was thought that Boeing was on track to receive approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to end the grounding of the 737 MAX by late June, but the timeline has slipped amid an exhaustive review of the safety of the plane that has turned up new areas of concern. Late last month, FAA test pilots discovered a data processing problem in the plane’s flight control computer that could occur in the event of a microprocessor failure, which Boeing is hoping to address through a software modification.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Also Airbus has some problems
Airbus A350 software bug forces airlines to turn planes off and on every 149 hours
Patch your darn metal bird, sighs EU aviation agency
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/07/25/a350_power_cycle_software_bug_149_hours/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook
Tomi Engdahl says:
According to Steve McConnell’s book, Code Complete “Industry Average: about 15 – 50 errors per 1000 lines of delivered code.” This is known as the defects per KLOC (1000 lines of code).
According to Information is Beautiful, the Boeing 787 Dreamliners’ avionics and online support systems are made using between 6 and 7 million lines of code. The same source tells us that the total flight software of the 787 amounts to nearly 14 million lines of code. https://codeinstitute.net/blog/how-many-lines-of-code-787/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephenrice1/2019/09/06/three-arguments-for-and-against-eliminating-the-co-pilot/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Boeing Crashes Highlight a Worsening Reliability Crisis
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1335110
A growing body of evidence indicates that electronics, aerospace and other technology manufacturers under unrelenting competitive pressure are placing time-to-market considerations ahead of reliability — including mission-critical systems. In the stunning case of the Boeing 737 Max, evidence is mounting that the airplane maker abetted by regulators even compromised safety in its quest to compete with rival Airbus.
Those competitive pressures have extended to technologies ranging from botched robotic surgery to runaway autonomous vehicles. As more horror stories emerge, might the technology pendulum swing back toward a greater emphasis on reliability and safety?
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://newrepublic.com/article/154944/boeing-737-max-investigation-indonesia-lion-air-ethiopian-airlines-managerial-revolution
Tomi Engdahl says:
Some monot issues with Airbus also:
Why Airlines Are Losing Weight On The Airbus 320neo
https://www.forbes.com/sites/heatherfarmbrough/2019/09/19/why-airlines-are-losing-weight-on-the-airbus-320neo/?utm_source=FACEBOOK&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Valerie/#76616c657269
British Airways (BA) has joined Lufthansa in stopping sales of rear row seats on its Airbus 320neos following concerns about the distribution of passengers at the rear of the plane and its effect on the aircraft’s centre-of-gravity.
This follows an European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) flight directive issued on July 31 drawing attention to a ‘reduced efficiency of the angle of attack protection when the aeroplane is set in certain flight configurations and in combination with specific manoeuvres commanded by the flight crew’.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Boeing 737 MAX – Miksi kävi näin?
https://q-factory.fi/boeing-737-max-miksi-kavi-nain/
Tässä kirjoituksessa paneudutaan Boeing 737 MAX -koneen tapaukseen ja pohditaan, mitä lento-onnettomuuksien syiden selvityksistä voidaan oppia.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Chicago-based plane maker said Monday morning it will reduce the production rate of the 787 Dreamliner to 12 a month from 14 for about 2 years starting late next year.
Boeing’s Financial Toll From 737 MAX Crisis Rises To $9 Billion, To Slow 787 Production As Earnings Slide
http://on.forbes.com/61861yBoj
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lion Air Crash Report Faults Boeing 737 Max Design Flaws, Pilot Errors
https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2019/10/25/lion-air-crash-report-faults-boeing-737-max-design-flaws-pilot-errors/?utm_source=FACEBOOK&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie/#676f7264696
Topline: Boeing, the world’s largest planemaker, is undertaking “unprecedented” steps to overhaul its safety standards and software after a report by Indonesian aviation regulators found design flaws in the 737 Max played a factor in the crash of Lion Air Flight 610 in 2018.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Boeing Finds Itself in a Fresh Pickle
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-10-10/boeing-737-ng-airplane-cracks-are-symbolic-of-bigger-struggles
Cracks on heavily used 737 Next Generation jets don’t help Boeing’s efforts to reassure the flying public on aircraft safety.
Cracks found on 38 of 810 Boeing 737 NG jets inspected globally
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-boeing-airplanes-idUSKBN1WP2BD
Tomi Engdahl says:
Boeing 737 NG planes grounded over safety fears after cracks found near wing – but some are still in service
https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/10113707/boeing-737-ng-planes-grounded/
Qantas grounds Boeing 737 plane with structural crack, inspects others
Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/boeing-737-crack-qantas-12049784
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Cracking issue’ discovered on some of Boeing’s 737 NG planes, airline says
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/27/business/boeing-737-ng-cracks/index.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
“Cracking Issue” Discovered On Some Boeing 737NG Aircraft
https://simpleflying.com/boeing-737-ng-engine-cracking/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/30/what-on-earth-is-a-pickle-fork-and-why-is-it-adding-to-boeings-737-woes/
Tomi Engdahl says:
New Boeing Whistleblower Warns Over 787 Dreamliner Oxygen System – Reports
https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2019/11/06/new-boeing-whistleblower-warns-over-787-dreamliner-oxygen-systemreports/?utm_source=FACEBOOK&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie/#676f7264696
Topline: A former quality control engineer at Boeing has claims that up to 25% of oxygen systems on the 787 Dreamliner aircraft could be faulty, according to the BBC.
He blamed the issues on what he says was a culture of meeting targets and cost-cutting, allegations that have been levelled against Boeing by other whistleblowers.
Key background: The world’s biggest plane maker has come under intense scrutiny following two fatal crashes in five months involving its 737MAX model, which has been grounded since March. The aviation giant already on the back foot faces additional pressure with new claims about safety issues with the flagship 787 Dreamliner and negative publicity around structural issues with older models of the 737NG aircraft.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Boeing’s poor information security posture threatens passenger safety, national security, researcher says
https://www.csoonline.com/article/3451585/boeings-poor-information-security-posture-threatens-passenger-safety-national-security-researcher-s.html
The aircraft maker failed to perform minimum due diligence in securing its networks, then tried to cover it up, security researcher Chris Kubecka tells Aviation Cyber Security conference attendees.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Once It Gets Green Light From FAA, Boeing Still Faces Complicated Task To Get 737 MAXs Off The Ground
http://on.forbes.com/61861MQAe
The crisis confronting Boeing’s 737 MAX jetliner is gradually wending its way to resolution. Sometime in the first quarter of 2020, the plane will again be carrying passengers on commercial routes.
If there is one thing that followers of the MAX’s travails should have learned from media coverage that began with a tragic crash in October of 2018, it is that everything about the operation and oversight of commercial transports is complicated.
So there is nothing simple about getting MAX back in the air.
Given the complexity, it is understandable that media coverage seldom captures all the technical minutia involved in the process. For instance, the Wall Street Journal published a story Sunday describing Boeing’s plans to commence MAX deliveries to carriers before the FAA had signed off on revised training procedures for the plane. Near as I can tell, the story was accurate, but it barely began to capture the technical factors dictating early delivery.
That isn’t the end of the post-storage procedure. Once Boeing signs off on the checkout flight, the FAA has to sign off too, and then the carrier receiving the plane has to perform its own inspection. Having negotiated all these hurdles, each plane must then be issued an airworthiness ticket before the airline accepts delivery of its plane.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Boeing to redesign 737NG engine cover after fatal accident
https://www.ft.com/content/cf555570-0b0a-11ea-b2d6-9bf4d1957a67
https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/alipaine-imaisi-matkustajan-osin-ulos-rikkoutuneesta-ikkunasta-boeing-joutuu-suunnittelemaan-uudelleen-7-000-koneen-suojarakenteen/7631740#gs.hf4v1e
Tomi Engdahl says:
Boeing Wins Tentative Order For 30 737 MAX Planes Amid Sales Turnaround At Dubai Airshow
http://on.forbes.com/61861ObIQ
Tomi Engdahl says:
Yhdysvaltain ilmailuviranomainen FAA: Boeing ei ole mukana päättämässä 737 Max-koneiden lentokelpoisuudesta
https://www.iltalehti.fi/ulkomaat/a/9078ba38-52d1-4c37-9e1f-c279543f9e82
Tomi Engdahl says:
FAA Takes Back Control Of Key Safety Step From Boeing As Questions Linger On 737 MAX Fix
http://on.forbes.com/61891ueF1
The Federal Aviation Administration is taking back the sole authority to issue airworthiness certificates for new 737 MAX aircraft for an indefinite period, marking a reversal in a program that had transferred responsibility to Boeing, even as questions linger on the re-launch of the troubled airplane.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Internal FAA Review Saw High Risk of 737 MAX Crashes
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/19/12/11/1837212/internal-faa-review-saw-high-risk-of-737-max-crashes?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot%2Fto+%28%28Title%29Slashdot+%28rdf%29%29
U.S. regulators decided to allow Boeing’s 737 MAX jet to keep flying after its first fatal crash last fall even after their own analysis indicated it could become one of the most accident-prone airliners in decades without design changes
In the wake of the analysis, the FAA took steps to put short-term and permanent measures in place to combat hazards, but Wednesday’s hearing started off with challenges to some of those decisions. “Despite its own calculations, the FAA rolled the dice on the safety of the traveling public and let the 737 MAX continue to fly,”
Internal FAA Review Saw High Risk of 737 MAX Crashes
House committee hearing focuses on FAA and Boeing moves between the tragedies
https://www.wsj.com/articles/internal-faa-review-saw-high-risk-of-737-max-crashes-11576069202
U.S. regulators decided to allow Boeing Co.’s 737 MAX jet to keep flying after its first fatal crash last fall even when their own analysis indicated it could become one of the most accident-prone airliners in decades without design changes.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Boeing considers suspending or halting 737 Max production
Planemaker has been told by the FAA that aircraft cannot return to service before 2020
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/dec/16/boeing-737-max-production-faa
Boeing is considering whether to cut or halt production of its grounded 737 Max after the Federal Aviation Administration said last week it would not approve the plane’s return to service before 2020.
The US planemaker’s board is holding a regular two-day meeting in Chicago, which started on Sunday, and the company could make an announcement on production plans as soon as late Monday.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Boeing will suspend 737 Max production in January
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/16/boeing-will-suspend-737-max-production-in-january.html
Boeing is planning to suspend production of the 737 Max after regulators said they don’t plan to lift a flight ban this year.
The planes have been grounded since mid-March after two fatal crashes.
The company isn’t planning to lay off or furlough employees at its plant in Renton, Washington.
Boeing’s decision, made after months of a cash-draining global grounding of its best-selling aircraft, worsens one of the most severe crises in the history of the century-old manufacturer.
The measure is set to ripple through the aerospace giant’s supply chain and broader economy. It also presents further problems for airlines, which have lost hundreds of millions of dollars and canceled thousands of flights without the fuel-efficient planes in their fleets.
Boeing last week acknowledged that regulators’ review of the planes — grounded since March after two crashes killed 346 people — would last until the following year, longer than the end-of-year approval the Chicago-based manufacturer was targeting.
Just how long Boeing will keep its 737 Max production line halted was not immediately clear, because it will depend on when regulators clear the plane to fly again. U.S. airlines have taken the planes out of their schedules until at least March. American last week said it doesn’t expect to fly the planes before April.
“We know that the process of approving the 737 Max’s return to service, and of determining appropriate training requirements, must be extraordinarily thorough and robust, to ensure that our regulators, customers, and the flying public have confidence in the 737 Max updates,” Boeing said in a statement. “The FAA and global regulatory authorities determine the timeline for certification and return to service. We remain fully committed to supporting this process. It is our duty to ensure that every requirement is fulfilled, and every question from our regulators answered.”
Boeing had repeatedly warned investors that it could further cut or suspend production of the planes altogether if the flight ban lasts longer than expected, as it has.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Boeing to temporarily halt 737 Max production in January
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50817124
Boeing, based in Seattle, Washington is one of the US’s largest exporters. The company said in a statement that it would not lay off workers associated with the 737 Max, but the stoppage is likely to affect suppliers and the wider economy.
Last week a congressional hearing was told that US aviation regulators were aware following the first crash in Indonesia in October 2018 that there was a risk of further accidents.
The Federal Aviation Authority’s analysis suggested there could be more than a dozen more crashes over the lifetime of the aircraft unless changes were made to its design.
Despite that, the 737 Max was not grounded until after the second crash in Ethiopia in March 2019.
Boeing is redesigning the automated control system thought to have been the primary cause of the crashes.
The suspension of the 737 Max has already cost Boeing around $9bn (£6.75bn; €8.07bn). Boeing shares fell more than 4% on Monday amid speculation the airline would announce a production suspension.
The manufacturer said it had 400 of the 737 Max aircraft in storage and would focus on delivering those to customers. While many airlines around the world have the planes on order, delivery was halted to allow Boeing’s engineers to develop software fixes.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Almost 100 planes are sitting useless in a snowy car park in Wichita, Kansas.
One photo shows why Boeing had to shut down production of its grounded 737 Max
https://bit.ly/2sDRFdk
Striking photographs show nearly 100 fuselages of Boeing 737 Max planes sitting useless at a Kansas factory parking lot.
Until the planes are cleared to fly, Boeing has a growing backlog of planes under construction that it can’t deliver.
On Monday, the aerospace giant took the embarrassing step of halting production indefinitely while waiting for the US air regulator to clear the plane to fly once more.
Boeing’s suspension of 737 Max production is an embarrassing symbol of its hubris trying to rush a troubled plane back into service
https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-737-max-suspended-production-is-embarrassing-sign-hubris-faa-2019-12
Boeing repeatedly picked dates for the plane’s return only for them to come and go and for the US Federal Aviation Administration to refuse to back the same time line.
The result was that the industry appeared to stop believing what Boeing was saying – or knew something the manufacturer was itself refusing to accept.
Boeing’s decision Monday to temporarily suspend production of its 737 Max planes casts further doubt on the future of the aircraft, risks angering the customers of one of the US’s largest exporters, and will see the company go through billions in cash.
But Boeing’s once cozy relationship with the regulator has been shattered in the aftermath of two fatal crashes that killed 346 people and left the planes grounded worldwide since March.
The FAA has come under increasing scrutiny for allowing Boeing, under Congress-approved rules, to certify much of the plane itself, leading to the FAA’s processes being repeatedly questioned in congressional hearings.
Breaking with Boeing, the FAA refused to commit to a time line for the plane’s return, instead repeatedly saying the plane would return when “ready.”
Since April, Boeing repeatedly claimed the plane would return within a few months – only to push that deadline back and say the same thing again and again.
Boeing said in November that it could be cleared to start delivering the planes at the end of this year. But the FAA called that time line “unrealistic” and said there was a “perception that some of Boeing’s public statements have been designed to force the FAA into taking quicker action.”
At the same time, airline employees have said they do not want to fly on the plane, even as Boeing vowed it would be one of the safest planes ever to fly upon its return.
Europe’s aviation regulator even refused to accept the US’s work on the plane, saying it would also recertify the plane itself.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Boeing’s Push to Make Training Profitable May Have Left 737 Max Pilots Unprepared
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-20/boeing-s-profit-push-may-have-left-737-max-pilots-unprepared
Flight manual of Boeing’s 737 Max 8 planes mentions MCAS computer system only once
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/boeing-737-manual-mcas-system-plane-crash-1.5065842
Tomi Engdahl says:
Boeing is reportedly on the brink of stopping 737 Max production while it waits for the troubled plane to return to the sky
https://bit.ly/34vImcV
The 737 Max has been grounded since March following fatal crashes in the Java Sea and Ethiopia that killed a total of 346 people.
According to these sources, Boeing management considered a pause in production of the aircraft to be “the most viable among difficult options” following the FAA’s announcement Thursday that the aircraft would not be allowed to return to service by the start of 2020.
0American Airlines on Thursday announced it would be canceling Boeing 737 Max flights until April 7 at the earliest.
Tomi Engdahl says:
QF72 | Hero pilot Kevin Sullivan’s quick thinking saves 315 people
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0cS1SMptlnQ&feature=youtu.be
It’s the most terrifying mid-air emergency in Australian aviation history – flight QF72′s autopilot tried to kill all 315 people on board. They were only saved by the quick thinking of Captain Kevin Sullivan
https://7news.com.au/sunday-night/captain-kevin-sullivan-saves-315-people-on-board-qf72-c-138996
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.vox.com/videos/2019/4/15/18306644/boeing-737-max-crash-video
Tomi Engdahl says:
737 Max flight manual may have left MCAS information on ‘cutting room floor’
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/boeing-737-manual-mcas-system-plane-crash-1.5065842
Tomi Engdahl says:
Boeing’s Push to Make Training Profitable May Have Left 737 Max Pilots Unprepared
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-20/boeing-s-profit-push-may-have-left-737-max-pilots-unprepared
An emphasis on the bottom line disrupted decades of productive communication between pilots, engineers, and designers.
But the most fundamental breakdown at Boeing may have been a lack of appreciation of how humans respond under stress—both in the machine it was designing and in its own organization. On aircraft like the Boeing 777, a cadre of pilots had worked closely with engineers to solve problems. By the time the Max entered development, Boeing was pushing hard to turn the unglamorous but all-important business of customer training into a profit center of its own. Many pilots were distracted by a dispute with Boeing over the hiring of outside contractors. They contended the quality of training was slipping.
In practice, according to interviews with more than a dozen pilots and engineers who participated in the Max’s development, the turmoil left the aircraft’s cockpit designers with a lack of input from the instructors who regularly saw how the typical airline pilot responded to unusual situations. Even among the pilots, there were communications breakdowns, partly caused by disagreements over unionization. At times conversations were civil but terse.
Boeing’s fight with the pilots came at the same time as layoffs among the engineers and was part of a drive, these people say, to lessen the clout of Seattle-area unions. Company reassignments placed thousands of miles between designers honing flight-deck concepts in Seattle, trainers working with airline pilots in Miami, and a team in California that provides day-to-day support of airplanes in the field. “The driving factor was monetary,”
“Those relationships between the various professional organizations that for decades resulted in a good product, an improved product—they weren’t taken into consideration as much as the bottom line.”
In an email, a Boeing spokesman said that “training requirements are mandated by global regulators and implemented by airline customers
Three former senior Boeing executives, however, say privately that they regret the profit-driven imperatives imposed on the training process and see it as critical to understanding how a company renowned for meticulous engineering missed the mark so badly with the Max. For century-old Boeing, whose name is nearly synonymous with flight, the crisis isn’t only a human tragedy but a deep embarrassment and a financial disaster costing billions of dollars.