Boeing's 737 MAX jet could soon fly again despite damning probes

[yortsed snacilbuper]

Boeing’s grounded 737 MAX could be cleared to return to the skies in the U.S. as early as this year, despite a continued cascade of damning revelations about the design and approval of the passenger jet that crashed in Indonesia and Ethiopia, killing a total of 346 people.

If the MAX flies again soon, it will be a major test of the international credibility of U.S. aviation regulators, who risk finding themselves out of step with the rest of the world if authorities in Europe and elsewhere continue to prohibit the aircraft from flying in their airspace.

The Federal Aviation Administration’s evaluation process for returning the MAX to service is moving along even as the agency and Boeing continue to face questions about how the plane gained regulatory approval in 2017. Indonesia’s government issued a report Friday faulting oversight by both the company and the agency, a week after congressional investigators released 2016 emails and text messages in which a former Boeing pilot had boasted of playing "jedi-mind" tricks on regulators.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/boeings-737-max-jet-could-soon-fly-again-despite-damning-probes/ar-AAJsB17?ocid=spartanntp&pfr=1

[still_one]

1. Not sure about that. They have hearings coming up. Regardless, if and when they

do allow it, one thing is for certain, any mishap that occurs, no matter whose fault it is, will probably doom that airplane

[BannonsLiver]

10. And Boeing

Having already flown on this plane twice — between the two accidents — I will actively avoid it in perpetuity. It’s a poorly engineered flying tomato can and I feel personally violated by having been put at risk by Boeing. It’s actually kind of jarring to see some of the nationalism in this thread. Fact: Boeing sucks right now. End of story.

[Sherman A1]

2. One hopes not

Hopefully they are scrapped in place.

[abqtommy]

3. I still want to see the indictment, arrest, trial, conviction and imprisonment for life for

Last edited Tue Oct 29, 2019, 11:03 AM - Edit history (1)

Boeing execs, members of the FAA and others responsible. How about we bankrupt Boeing and have Airbus buy up the 737s for scrap? Let's do anything except allow them to fly ever again. Except that
Airbus isn't much better.

[Falcata]

4. You mean those Airbus' that

have long list of accidents?

[abqtommy]

5. My bad. I'd forgotten about that! Thanks for the reminder. Maybe it'd be best to recycle all

Boeing and Airbus planes into lawn furniture.

[BannonsLiver]

7. Then who will make airplanes? Outside of Embraer and Canadair that's about it.

Clearly you don’t spend a lot of time at airports. I can’t help but notice Boeing and Airbus make most of the GD planes.

Also what is this long list of Airbus accidents you mention? Specifics please.

[abqtommy]

11. When I review technological progress I find that I think populations were more stable

and productive before there were steamboats, railroads, automobiles and, yes, airplanes. Who needs any of them? disclaimer: During the 1980s and 1990s I traveled the world by air for business purposes. I haven't been on an airplane since 1995 and I don't miss it at all.

Note: I do remember a few years ago an Airbus spiraled into the Atlantic ocean killing everybody on board. I'm sure an online search would be very informing.

[BannonsLiver]

8. What would those be?

I’m not a big fan of whataboutisms and false equivalency. The fact is right now Boeing’s corporate culture and bad engineering got a lot of people killed and put countless people in danger. Nationalism aside, There is no airbus equivalent right now to that scandal.

[PJMcK]

6. Two things

What does the Federal Communication Commission have to do with the 737 MAX? I assume you meant the Federal Aviation Administration.

You suggested bankrupting Boeing, a company that employs over 153,000 people and subcontracts with another 100,000. How do you think that would affect the U.S. economy?

Another thing: Why would Airbus want to buy scrapped airplanes? The designs of the two companies airplanes are profoundly different and their parts are not interchangeable.

Your passion is admirable but your solutions don't seem realistic. If any individuals can be shown to have acted illegally, nail them. Otherwise, this is far more complicated than your righteous rant recognizes.

[abqtommy]

12. Yeah, I meant FAA but my brains's a little slow this morning. You caught it right away so thanks

for keeping it real and giving me a chance to edit.

[PJMcK]

15. It was still a righteous rant!

(wink)

[USALiberal]

13. Every airline manufacture has has issues. Want them all out of business? Nt

[BannonsLiver]

9. The Max is a piece of shit

All the software in the world isn’t going to fix the bad engineering. Fact is Airbus and companies like Embraer are building better mousetraps than Boeing is. It’s actually been that way for a while.

[maxsolomon]

14. The recent NYT Magazine feature on the Max was interesting for detailing a complicated picture.

It's not as simple as "The Max is a piece of shit". A lot of it has to do with pilot skills and experience.

Airbus' approach has been more "automate everything", and Boeing's has been "pilots need to be able to fly off-computer".

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/18/magazine/boeing-737-max-crashes.html

[EX500rider]

16. The plane will be fine, just needed a software tweak.

The MCAS system relied on data from a single sensor on the outside of the aircraft to determine the angle at which the aircraft was flying. The failure of that one sensor could lead to the system deploying at the wrong time - forcing the aircraft into a descent. They are now going to tie it to both sensors and have it deactivate if it gets different readings from the 2 sensors. (as it should have been but with millions of lines of code not surprising it can take some tweaking to get it right)

The Ethiopian air crew did not handle the issue correctly, they did get the MCAS turned off but had the airspeed to high to manually adjust the trim wheel.

It appears the aircraft was simply going too fast, and the aerodynamic forces building up on the stabilisers were too strong for the pilots to overcome with muscle power. They turned the electronics back on and ultimately lost control altogether.

This is where Graves’ main criticisms come in. He points out that throughout the flight, the pilots failed to reduce power from the levels used immediately after take-off, allowing the plane to continue accelerating to the point where it was moving too quickly to be trimmed manually.

“Once they set those throttles to full power, they never retarded them,” he told the committee. “They accelerated right through the certified maximum speed… and just kept on accelerating.”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/sd9LGK2S9m/battle_over_blame