I’m a Boeing guy, but this does seem prudent.
I’m thinking terrorism, and the powers-that-be are blaming the aircraft, so they won’t anger the muslims...................
Boeing supposedly has a software update according to what I’m hearing on the news. Not sure how Boeing at this point knows if software is the culprit? Did they find the black boxes?
I’d read, perhaps it’s not accurate, that a Boeing pilot could basically shut the computer down and take 100% control of the plane, unlike an Airbus where the computer cannot be overridden. I’m sure there’s much more to it than that.
There working OT at Boeing. They will figure it out.
Some airlines have grounded their fleet.
I think the national aviation authorities are trying to force EASA (Europe’s aviation safety agency) and the FAA to ground all 737 MAX planes.
It’s interesting that these crashes are usually backwater airlines. Indonesia and Ethiopia.
I’m guessing a LOT more of them are flying over Europe and North America, without a hitch.
The clueless media are driving this. No one knows the cause of this accident. The investigators may have some ideas, but right now, they only have the data from the voice recorder. The Flight data recorder has been recovered, but has some damage, so they can’t retrieve the data yet. I think that they learned their lessons with Flight 800 when the FBI jumped to a conclusion and said that the airplane was brought down by a missile. It wasn’t, the problem was a short in wiring inside a fuel tank. The usual suspects continue to claim that the U.S. Navy shot it down.
When they have a cause, they will announce it. Meanwhile, idiots like Geraldo Rivera and Diane Feinstein will run their mouths on TV and claim to be experts.
The problem is with the overall design of the plane itself. The body profile has been out since the ‘60s, and hasn’t changed much except for length. When Boeing set out to make this variant, they stuck with the body design, but changed the wing configuration to change the position of the engine nacelles to accommodate the new propulsion system. The plane now has a natural tendency to go nose-up, so the MCAS system was implemented to keep the flight path stable. It’s an inherently unstable configuration, but as long as the sensors are working properly, the plane will fly fine. But with a faulty sensor telling the MCAS that it needs to move the nose down, the pilots suddenly finds their self fighting the plane’s actions.
The pilots who fly MAX equipment are aware of the issue, but have not been trained properly to react to an MCAS failure.
The MAX configuration was released in mid-2017. To date, there have only been about 340 delivered worldwide. Prior to the Lion Air crash, very few major US-based carriers even had simulation equipment specific to that model. To date, American, Southwest, and Delta have added MAX sims, but United has not. The installation of these simulators have been very recent, and with thousands of pilots to train, most have not been through hands-on training on how to react to the MCAS scenario.
Immediately after the Lion Air crash, pilots complained bitterly that they were not properly trained on how to react to this problem. Jon Weaks, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilot Association said that the pilots “were kept in the dark.” He also said “We do not like the fact that a new system was put on the aircraft and wasn’t disclosed to anyone or put in the manuals.” The move from the older 737 NG model cockpit to the new 737 Max system consisted of little more than a one-hour session on an iPad, according to Dennis Tajer, the spokesman for the APA.
These incidents are occurring at low altitude and with very little time to react. Decisions need to be made quickly while under duress — all the while at the same time fighting the aircraft’s actions. The Lion Air flight crashed within 13 minutes of the flight. The Ethiopian flight within 6. Both experienced issues only minutes at the tale end of those time frames, and both flights were at an altitude that is not very forgiving.
These planes need to be grounded all over until a definitive answer can be discovered, and proper training initiated on MAX-specific simulators. We have too many of these flying right now to take a risk otherwise.
The airlines Aerolineas Argentinas, Aeromexio, Cayman Airways, Comair, Ethiopian, Gol, and Royal Air Maroc have also all grounded the 737 MAX.
And now Canada, home of the second largest user of the 737 MAX -- Air Canada -- is Considering All Options
The FAA here in the US needs to provide some leadership here and do the same.
No U.S. airlines have grounded the Boeing 737 Max 8 models that they fly, but at least one group representing flight attendants at a major carrier says it does not want to put its members on the plane until further investigations are completed.
After the second deadly crash involving the model in five months, several airlines and countries in Asia, Europe and the Middle East have grounded it or banned it from their airspace.
The Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which represents more than 26,000 flight attendants at American Airlines, called on CEO Doug Parker to “strongly consider grounding these planes until an investigation can be performed.” The group said flight attendants will not be forced to fly if they feel unsafe.