Posted on 11/13/2018 1:42:33 PM PST by BenLurkin
Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration issued directives last week telling flight crews about the system, which is designed to provide extra protection against pilots losing control. That prompted aviators, unions and training departments to realize that none of the documentation for the Max aircraft included an explanation of the system, the union leaders said.
“We don’t like that we weren’t notified,”
Few details have been released about the underlying causes of the Lion Air crash Oct. 29 in the sea near Jakarta, but Indonesian investigators say that an erroneous sensor prompted the plane’s computers to push the aircraft into a steep dive. A new safety measure added on the Max models to prevent pilots from losing control is what caused the plane to point downward, according to the FAA and Boeing.
When Boeing designed its latest version of the 737, it added the new safety feature to combat a loss of lift, which is a leading contributor to the loss-of-control accidents that by far cause the most crash deaths around the world.
Known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, it was added “to compensate for some unique aircraft handling characteristics,” according to a bulletin sent by Southwest’s flight operations division to its pilots on Nov. 10.
When the system senses the plane is close to losing lift on the wings, it automatically commands a lowering of the nose to counteract the risk. However, the chief sensor used to predict a loss of lift — known as an angle-of-attack vane — was malfunctioning on the Lion Air flight. It essentially tricked the system into ordering a sharp dive.
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
So, in this case, RTFM was useless ?
Who’s flying this plane anyway?
Loss of lift, or uncontrollable plunge? hrmmm...
Putting the aircraft into a dive to regain speed across the wings without pilot input sounds like a great idea, and I agree with it, because time is off the essence in a stall situation, so I’m guessing that one of the software checks would be for available altitude, but you’d think they’d take into account the possibility of equipment failure. This is done all the time. If you go into a dive and your air speed readings don’t change, there should be a time-out on the maneuver.
It would be WTFM
A bit more info from here:
A former Boeing executive, speaking on condition of anonymity because discussion of accident investigations is supposed to be closely held, said that Boeing engineers didn’t introduce the change to the flight-control system arbitrarily.
He said it was done primarily because the much bigger engines on the MAX changed the aerodynamics of the jet and shifted the conditions under which a stall could happen. That required further stall protection be implemented to certify the jet as safe.
Love her voice.
This makes Boeing look bad, but Lion Air replaced the AOA sensor the day before so I think there’s going to be other causes, too.
This is why I’ll never buy one of the new cars that can take over your brakes and steering without your approval.....”to avoid an accident”.......a disaster waiting to happen.......nothing made by man is perfect.......
There needs to be a big red button that lets the pilot take complete control without the benefit of the computer.
Give me a good old-fashioned stall warning, and I’ll push the nose down myself.
The the s/w gurus, plane performance managers and safety engineering use any FMEA type analysis?
Compare this to sudden acceleration in Toyota’s.
For all of you fly by wire fans. Your new system sucks.
By the time that Boeing gets done paying out on the lawsuits for this one then they just may be out of business.
The Lionair pilot was grossly incompetent.
My wife’s Rav 4 has Toyota’s Safety System. It is mostly good.
In one instance while driving on a eight lane freeway section some idiot crossed from the left lane across the 4 northbound lanes to make an exit on the right he was apparently missing. The car braked before I even saw the idiot crossing in front of us.
On the other hand in some conditions the radar controlled cruise control will slow the Rav 4 as the car ahead is exiting on an off ramp. If has to do with the cruise control uses the fog lines to focus on the car ahead. If the fog line is not continued at the exit the cruise continues to follow the car as it exits and slows
IMHO, This makes Boeing look negligent.
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