Posted on 05/05/2019 7:08:42 PM PDT by Magnatron
Boeing didn’t share information about a problem with a cockpit safety alert for about a year before the issue drew attention with the October crash of a 737 MAX jet in Indonesia, and then gave some airlines and pilots partial and inconsistent explanations, according to industry and government officials.
It was only after a second MAX accident in Ethiopia nearly five months later, these officials said, that Boeing became more forthcoming with airlines about the problem. And the company didn’t publicly disclose the software error behind the problem for another six weeks, in the interim leaving the flying public and, according to a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman, the agency’s acting chief unaware.
The length of time between when Boeing realized the problem and when it shared that information hasn’t been previously reported. The problem kept a safety feature found on earlier models from functioning on the MAX, though it isn’t clear if the feature would have prevented either crash.
Senior FAA and airline officials increasingly are raising questions about how transparent the Chicago aerospace giant has been regarding problems with the cockpit warnings, according to people familiar with their thinking.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
...IF they have money after all of this is over.
Heads are going to rolling at Boeing.
Makes my very sad. Used to think that Boeing was a very good player in the world of aircraft safety.
It would seem that the plane, in general, is fine.
The feature software and sensor the software depends on is not.
Some of Boeing Management needs to be scraped.
I disagree. The airframe is inherently unstable and incapable of maintaining level flight without the software “fix”.
This is not a military high-performance aircraft that needs instability to allow for high-performance maneuverability. The design needs to be scrapped.
Clear the sewer lines...Wall Street’s gonna take a dump tomorrow.
The plane is not fine. It is a design failure.
I can’t even imagine the level of punitive damages they are going to get hit with (and rightfully so).
I can explain. Millennials and/or PC. Everyone tried hard or at least meant well. And F Drumph.
I don’t know. there are 1,000s of hours of acceptable operation.
During how many hours of that operation did this software [and sensor] provide [good/correct] trim adjustments?
Given the trend to autonomous vehicle operation, statistics seem to come heavily into play during operation concerning “anomalous” events/conditions in the operating envelope.
So are a lot of people at Boeing. Prosecutors are going to be out for blood.
I wonder what Boeing will be when it comes out of bankruptcy.
And then there’s that 737 that went into the St Johns river in Florida yesterday.
I think they put more powerful engines on it and that causes the nose to rise inordinately which they “fixed” with software that has no redundancy and they didn’t tell anybody about it. I think the CEO has mentally regressed into childhood a bit. Well just put some paint and Bondo over the cracks- maybe no one will notice.
Bye, Boeing.
Many years ago, I had to deal with the FAA on flight recorders. It was unbelievably frustrating as everybody there was terrified to sign their name to something, or make a decision. We wanted to change from one type of resistor to another with a superior failure rate. We had a full time staffer in the FAA building. He would go around and gather signatures on the change. By late Wednesday, people who had signed would hunt him down and, if the document wasn’t signed off, they’d remove their okay. When I asked why, our consultant said, “They are terrified that there will be an accident over the weekend and they might have signed something that could be related to the cause and it wasn’t approved (blame spread) by everybody else.”
We would perform any manner of contortion to avoid getting the FAA involved as their inaction could end production for months or even a few years. So, I understand why Boeing might figure a way not to involve the government. But, what this means is, Boeing would be unable to make a wholesale change or correction to fielded units as it would require getting the FAA involved.
My impression of the FAA is it is staffed entirely by people who will never make a decision on their own for fear of being wrong.
Pilots who know how to hand fly and do it properly have no trouble with Boeings. Personally have over 20,000 accident free hours in various types of Boeing equipment. Too many pilots today know only how to fly by autopilot and unless they have had military training have never been inverted or in an unusual attitude or for that matter in a bank of more than 30 degrees.. Hands on flying is still a valuable skill as well as competent decision making.
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