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Boeing’s Own Test Pilots Lacked Key Details of 737 MAX Flight-Control System
Wall Street Journal ^ | May 3, 2019 | Andrew Tangel and Andy Pasztor

Posted on 05/03/2019 8:50:09 AM PDT by billorites

click here to read article


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The redesign of the 737-800 Max resulted in an aircraft that was unstable in pitch around the lateral axis when flown at high angles of attack and under conditions of high thrust. Rather than address the underlying aeronautical design flaws, and risk certification as a 737 variant, a decision was made to fix the problem with a "software kludge" the MCAS system.

No they didn't
Who told you that? You don't know that.

1 posted on 05/03/2019 8:50:09 AM PDT by billorites
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To: billorites

what do you think? Is Boeing going to be sued into oblivion?


2 posted on 05/03/2019 8:52:11 AM PDT by sparklite2 (Don't mind me. I'm just a contrarian.)
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To: billorites

Boeing is currently saying that their design is sound as they try to ram a SW only fix to the problem. Boeing has not been honest in this. The second crash is criminal. The first crash demonstrates a breakdown of Their technical cultural. I hope that the max does not fly until Boeing comes clean.


3 posted on 05/03/2019 8:56:25 AM PDT by BRL
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To: sparklite2
I dunno what will happen, but it's clear than in the shoving match between engineering and the executive suite the executives won out.

or so it appeared.

4 posted on 05/03/2019 8:57:01 AM PDT by billorites (freepo ergo sum)
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To: BRL

They clearly did not take the time to understand what happened in the first crash as they pushed a half Assad set of instructions to prevent this from happening again. I do not think they should get to push another rushed solution until the crash report is done....yeah they screwed the pooch that bad.


5 posted on 05/03/2019 8:59:00 AM PDT by BRL
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To: BRL
"Boeing has not been honest in this."

That's what bothers me. That they were less than forthcoming internally is particularly egregious.

6 posted on 05/03/2019 8:59:02 AM PDT by billorites (freepo ergo sum)
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To: billorites
Nor were they informed that the system relied on a single sensor—rather than two—to verify the accuracy of incoming data about the angle of a plane’s nose, they added.

The authors botched that. My understanding (which could be faulty) is that only one AoA sensor provided input to MCAS. They did not use two or three combined with "auction" control logic to determine which instrument data was valid. So, with only one sensor input, there is no way to "verify accuracy" of incoming data. The only data you get are from the one sensor. That sensor on the Ethiopian airliner jumped to a 75 degree AoA within one second. That suggests a bird strike. With the control system being told the plane was at such an out-of-envelope AoA, it commanded nose down, all the way to the ground.

I'm surprised the control logic doesn't take account of the myriad other data such as increasing air speed, engine thrust, decreasing altitude, ground proximity, etc to determine pitch-down is not a good flight strategy.

7 posted on 05/03/2019 9:00:54 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: billorites

They are trying to manage this as if paying out a couple hundred million in lawsuits and a quick SW update will make all this go away. They broke faith with the FAA and with the flying public. This was not an unpredictable random thing this was ....pick your word...criminal...


8 posted on 05/03/2019 9:02:59 AM PDT by BRL
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To: ProtectOurFreedom
This article is one of the more enlightened treatments of the subject that I've read.

https://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/aviation/how-the-boeing-737-max-disaster-looks-to-a-software-developer

9 posted on 05/03/2019 9:03:59 AM PDT by billorites (freepo ergo sum)
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To: billorites

I am just a long time pilot of hang gliders, ultralight aircraft and general aviation airplanes and have lived on an airport for the last 25 years. I live between two FAA guys and the whole family three doors down are airline pilots both retired and active, along with many others here. Also my brother has been a captain for Southwest for the last 20 years or so.

When this 2nd accident happened all of the people I know who are more qualified than me to make informed judgments on this jumped all over the two third world pilots and blamed them completely. Now they are starting to realize that there have been some screw ups by Boeing that are probably going to cost them. I don’t know that the way that you are characterizing the situation is completely accurate. But the plot has been thickening, that is for sure.


10 posted on 05/03/2019 9:05:51 AM PDT by fireman15
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To: TexasGator

“The redesign of the 737-800 Max resulted in an aircraft that was unstable in pitch around the lateral axis when flown at high angles of attack and under conditions of high thrust. Rather than address the underlying aeronautical design flaws, and risk certification as a 737 variant, a decision was made to fix the problem with a “software kludge” the MCAS system.”

I told you so.


11 posted on 05/03/2019 9:06:01 AM PDT by MeganC (There is nothing feminine about feminism.)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

I’m surprised the control logic doesn’t take account of the myriad other data such as increasing air speed, engine thrust, decreasing altitude, ground proximity, etc to determine pitch-down is not a good flight strategy.

...

That’s the job of the pilots.


12 posted on 05/03/2019 9:06:29 AM PDT by Moonman62 (Facts are racist.)
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To: billorites

Details like this end to make my eyebrow rise . If I were a whole lot more cynical I might think that the Boeing execs wanted to try an experiment to see if the company could survive a series of designed in crashes. You don’t tell your test pilots about a crucial characteristic? You omit redundancy? Is somebody at Boeing making big money on a bet how soon one would crash? Some kind of insurance scam? It keeps getting crazier over there.


13 posted on 05/03/2019 9:07:10 AM PDT by arthurus (nhhh)
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To: BRL

Will Boeing still exist after the lawsuits? The failures are pretty flagrant.


14 posted on 05/03/2019 9:08:36 AM PDT by arthurus (ds)
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To: arthurus

I am stunned the CEO is still the face of Boeing. He should have been pushed out when the second crash showed the MCAS had pointed the plane straight down.


15 posted on 05/03/2019 9:11:41 AM PDT by BRL
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To: BRL

And to think that Airbus gets government help.


16 posted on 05/03/2019 9:15:32 AM PDT by DIRTYSECRET (urope. Why do they put up with this.)
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To: MeganC

“I told you so.”

If true then the Max won’t fly for years or maybe never.

We will see shortly. If the Max gets back into the air with just a software fix you all be eating crow for a long time.


17 posted on 05/03/2019 9:15:39 AM PDT by TexasGator (Z1z)
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To: fireman15

Dirk, I’ve always wanted to visit your cars and the cast-iron bathtub with an outboard motor affixed to one end.


18 posted on 05/03/2019 9:16:32 AM PDT by treetopsandroofs
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To: billorites

Boeing effed up hard.

Dr John Demming had QC right.


19 posted on 05/03/2019 9:23:08 AM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: billorites

Want to know more?
Geez it’s like watching Starship Troopers without the boobs!


20 posted on 05/03/2019 9:23:17 AM PDT by 9422WMR
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