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Boeing 737 Max Crashes 'Linked' By Satellite Track Data, FAA Says (arstechnica.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The Federal Aviation Administration issued an emergency order grounding all Boeing 737 MAX aircraft on March 13, citing new data that showed a possible link between the March 10 crash of an Ethiopian Airlines flight and the crash of a Lion Air flight off the coast of Indonesia last October. In an interview with NPR's David Greene this morning, acting FAA Director Dan Ewell said that "newly refined satellite data" from a flight telemetry system had led the agency to make the move. Both Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 (ET302) and Lion Air Flight 610 (JT610) were recently acquired 737 MAX 8 aircraft, and both were lost with all aboard just minutes after take-off. According to the emergency order issued by the FAA, "new information from the wreckage concerning the aircraft's configuration just after takeoff that, taken together with newly refined data from satellite-based tracking of the aircraft's flight path, indicates some similarities between the ET302 JT610 accidents that warrant further investigation of the possibility of a shared cause for the two incidents that needs to be better understood and addressed."

The source of the data in question is a combination of telemetry feeds from the flights' Automatic Dependent Surveillance(ADS) system. Introduced in the US in 2001 and more widely worldwide in the wake of the crash of Malaysian Airlines flight 370 in 2014, Europe has required most aircraft to carry the UHF-band ADS-Broadcast (ADS-B) system since 2017, and the FAA has mandated ADS-B for most aircraft by 2020. While ADS-B data was initially meant to be picked up by other aircraft and ground stations, it is also tracked by satellites. Other, less-granular telemetry data sent in the subscription-based ADS-addressed/Contract (ADS-A/ADS-C) format, the Future Air Navigation System(FANS), and the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) are also picked up by satellite.

152 comments

  1. Don't investigate the flight software by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    It was made in Israel so there's nothing bad you can say about it without being labelled an anti-Semite.

    1. Re:Don't investigate the flight software by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It was made in Israel so there's nothing bad you can say about it without being labelled an anti-Semite.

      Indeed the flight software might not be the core cause of problem and there might be no single code update that will fix the problem. GIGO applies to software as much as it does to every system that requires data input to do work. Until the actual cause of the incident(s) are completely know we are just spouting bullshit. The rest of your comment needs to be taken for what it is, another asinine statement that deserves to be down modded.

      My bet is that the software is fine and the component system design is the problem. It will take replication of the series of events that lead to the crash to nail down the cause. It could take months of simulation with different input situations as well as the ones from the data recorders to nail down exactly what occurred. If there is no quick fix that is reasonably safe then these planes could be mothballed for a very long time, especially if a complicated redesign of both the software/hardware input system is necessary.

    2. Re:Don't investigate the flight software by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh boo-hoo. Go shine your jackboots.

    3. Re:Don't investigate the flight software by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My bet is that the software is fine and the component system design is the problem.

      The software is designed to monitor the plane's components.

      There's 100% a problem in the software if the software isn't reporting what specifically happened.

    4. Re:Don't investigate the flight software by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It was made in Israel so there's nothing bad you can say about it without being labelled an anti-Semite.

      Sure.

      Because "It's all about the benjamins" and "Dual loyalty" aren't bog-standard, centuries-old anti-Semitic tropes straight out of 1930s Nazi propaganda, they're "legitimate criticism of Israeli policies".

      BULLSHIT

      Ilhan Omar is an anti-Semitic JACKASS.

      And you anti-Semitic "progressives" are stuck with her.

    5. Re:Don't investigate the flight software by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You say anit-Semitic like its a bad thing to know which tribe one belongs to, and which tribe one does not belong to.

      When Israel is stopped being fawned over as being a "democracy" than we'll take you Jews and Jew sympathizers seriously.

  2. Two Long Paragraphs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And nothing but double speak that says nothing of value. Just talking in circles.

  3. Hmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    These 737 MAX aircraft never crashed under Obama's presidency.

  4. New data? by enriquevagu · · Score: 4, Insightful

    grounding all Boeing 737 MAX aircraft on March 13, citing new data

    New data my ass. The planes have been grounded because all the countries worldwide were banning them, including China and the whole EU. Grounding them from the very first moment would have been much more sensible from Boeing.

    1. Re:New data? by iggymanz · · Score: 2, Insightful

      you're saying two things.

      No, the USA did NOT ground them "because everyone else was doing it."

      They really did ground on the basis of telemetry

    2. Re:New data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The moment this airframe simultaneously augured into the ground and detonated, turning all the human beings onboard into charred cellular debris, it was obvious that two very similar crashed of the same plane within a year was NOT a coincidence. Boeing will be looking at a several 10-digit lawsuits with this one. I hope their umbrella coverage is up to date.

    3. Re:New data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Boeing will declare bankruptcy. Executives will parachute to safety and piles of gold. Those who suffer will be made to suffer more. Unless it has better leadership with morals.

    4. Re:New data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The US grounded them because their attempt at sweeping the issue under the rug had failed, as evidenced by many other countries grounding the planes against the FAA recommendation. So the prudent thing to do is to make up a reason why now the FAA should ground them too, as to not look completely unconcerned about the passengers' lives while being protective of Boeing's business interests.

    5. Re:New data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      B...b...b...but Trump spoke personally with Dennis Boeing!

    6. Re:New data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "Pile in" is not a phrase ever used regarding stock purchases. You must be new to lying about investing.

    7. Re:New data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Totally agree, we were forced to do it because we'd look even dumber if we did not. I saw an interview with an ex-FAA official prior to the US grounding and they were baffled as to why we did not. Their view was if an engine fell off twice (or any hardware issue) then the plane would have been grounded after the 1st crash when they could not spot the problem. But because it was software, they gave it a pass. And they knew after the first crash that it was wonky software because the FAA gave boeing until april to fix it. Again if it had been a bad bolt holding the engine, do you think the FAA would give months to put new bolts in?

    8. Re:New data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lol - Trump - the first politician to be a liar in history. Crazy times.

    9. Re:New data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The first President to be a PROVEN, CAUGHT AND BASICALLY ADMITTED ON LIVE TV TRAITOR in American history, anyway... fixed that for you, kiddo. Keep studying US history, you'll learn things!

    10. Re:New data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is no procedure the pilots could run to fix a bad bolt holding an engine on. In the case of MCAS, they could have actuated the stabilized trim cutout switch and the runaway trim situation would have been solved.

      This is why the FAA gave Boeing time to change the MCAS system.

    11. Re:New data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because it was, in fact, user error. Seriously, if the pilots on Lion Air had followed the checklist for runaway elevator trim (which is what they should have realised it was), the plane would have reverted to completely normal manual flight.

      They simply did not activate the trim cutout switches like the checklist says they should have.

      Having said that, in my opinion, AoA sensor disagreement should be a standard ECAM message, not an optional extra package. If it had been, chances are the pilots would have aborted the flight entirely. (Yeah, sensor disagreement and you're at FL300 over the ocean? You keep flying. You've just taxing to the runway? Turn around and go back to the gate.)

    12. Re:New data? by SuperKendall · · Score: 2

      He just used it, therefore you are wrong and a liar to boot.

      --
      "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    13. Re:New data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How cute, you still think that "shovel ready jobs" or "I did not have sexual relations, with that woman" are accurate.. even though the speakers later had to admit the incorrectness of them later.

    14. Re:New data? by viperidaenz · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Pity they decided not to train the pilots on when they should do this.

      They put the MCAS system in to reduce the need to retrain existing 737 pilots. They should have:
      a) wrote better software, that uses both angle of attack sensors and only intervenes when both provide good data. The current software reacts to either sensor
      b) Trained the pilots on how the MCAS system works, when it operates, what its full capabilities are and how it could malfunction, so they know when it needs to be disabled.

    15. Re:New data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The problem with your A is that if one of the sensors failed in a way that prevented it from detecting a stall situation, MCAS would not intervene, and the plane could crash.I keep seeing this recommended by people I assume believe it is fairly easy to detect AoA sensor failures....it is not.

      For your B, I agree that Boeing erred in not including details of the MCAS in the difference training when a pilot moves from one 737 type to the MAX line. But they did issue FCOM update TBC-19 after the Lion Air crash, which the crew of the Ethiopian Air flight should have been aware of.

      Regardless the same procedures used to correct a runaway trim situation in previous 737 types apply to the MAX, which is to actuate the electric stab trim cutout switches. They are even in roughly the same location as previous types. There are other differences related to temporarily disabling the trim, but given how long Ethiopian was in the air they weren't likely a factor.

    16. Re:New data? by sexconker · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Correct!

      They should have all been grounded, worldwide, the instant the second plane crashed.

    17. Re:New data? by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      "The problem with your A is that if one of the sensors failed in a way that prevented it from detecting a stall situation, MCAS would not intervene, and the plane could crash."

      That's not really the way it works. When a sensor mismatch is detected, an alarm should sound (it does for lots of OTHER multi-sensor or redundant systems) alerting the pilots that there's a problem and a safety device has been disabled. The pilots then need to make sure they fly the plane safely.

      Airliners aren't supposed to stall, ever. It spills the passengers' drinks and might make them puke. The MCAS is there to assist pilots in recovering from a really bad situation that should never have happened.

    18. Re: New data? by c6gunner · · Score: 2

      No, the MCAS is there to prevent a stall, not to help recover from one.

      The primary issue which necessitates it is that the aircraft will stall in some situations in which the original 737s would not. This isn't a bad thing inherently; every aircraft is different, which is why pilots require type-specific training. However Boeing wanted to be able to sell the MAX as the same aircraft, meaning no extra training would be required for pilots who had 737 experience. In order to do that, they had to make it perform essentially the same as previous 737s, so they added the MCAS to make that happen.

      With that in mind; it should be obvious why they decided it would be better to have MCAS commanding a gradual pitch-down in non-stall conditions rather than failing to prevent an actual stall. They're giving the plane to pilots who don't fully understand the handling characteristics of the aircraft, and could easily stall it during takeoff if they treats it the same as their previous aircraft. And stalls at low altitude are bad. Like, really really bad.

    19. Re:New data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I know that isn't the way it works. It is the way the post I replied to thinks it should work and I disagree.

      An alarm does generate when there is a mismatch. It is an option to have it alert in a way that actively alerts the pilots.

    20. Re: New data? by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Sorry, I should know by now to write *very precisely* on Slashdot. The purpose of the MCAS is to assist pilots to recover from high angle of attack situations that could lead to stalls. Actually, the purpose is to compensate for thrust characteristics that produce a net positive pitch moment, but the former sounds better.

    21. Re:New data? by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      I guess I'm not following then. The poster you replied to stated that aircraft safety systems like MCAS should disable themselves if redundant sensor data doesn't match. You noted that the absence of the safety system could cause a crash and that it's difficult to detect a fault angle of attack sensor.

      It's not difficult to detect a faulty sensor when you have redundant ones and their readings don't match. In fact, Boeing has implemented precisely what the OP suggested, plus adding cross checks from other aircraft sensors.

    22. Re: New data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't be such a fag. Only narcissistic boobs bother registering a username. It's been that way since the first year. Grow up, son.

    23. Re: New data? by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      Yes, that's better :) I wasn't trying to be pedantic, just honestly wasn't sure if you understood the difference.

    24. Re: New data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It must be true that the newer generation has no knowledge of history. Ever heard of Nixon?

    25. Re:New data? by nyet · · Score: 1

      > fairly easy to detect AoA sensor failures....it is not.

      GTFO out.. one is clearly fucked here:

      https://static.seattletimes.co...

    26. Re:New data? by rtb61 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Actually it is very much sounding like they should have been grounded after incidents of the plane diving, when engaging auto pilot based upon false stall warnings. The data was all available from flight recorders, why the fuck would pilots not report it, oh that's right SHOW ME THE MONEY. Rampant corruption in the US means that two planes HAD TO CRASH prior to anything being done. They should have been grounded already, based upon several instance of this happening and pilots catching it before it was too late. A proper investigation now needs to happen to check for a greed based coverup, Boeing and the US government are in serious shit now, for the deaths of those people in those two instances where it could have been avoided.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    27. Re: New data? by IMightB · · Score: 1

      I am not a crook.

    28. Re: New data? by houghi · · Score: 1

      Chhina did that and people here said they where overreacting.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    29. Re: New data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's the problem, Trump makes even Nixon seam honest.

    30. Re: New data? by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Chhina did that and people here said they where overreacting.

      Because at the time China was the first ones and Slashdot outrage was in full swing. Reports came in from the EU grounding them only hours later. Never underestimate our capacity for pure uninformed outrage.

      For example have you ever made a grammatical error in a Slashdot post?

    31. Re:New data? by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      a) wrote better software, that uses both angle of attack sensors

      Please determine which sensor is right in software, remembering that the software in this case took the "safe" action of preventing what it saw was a stall.

    32. Re:New data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The pilots were trained.

      The problem is that everyone (that doesn't fly) thinks that pilots do something automatically. They do not.

      Watch the movie "Sully." See how real pilots behave. There's no knee jerk reactions. You do not go from A to D, you go from A, to B, to C, to D. Manuals have to be opened, procedures followed. The reason that the plane sank as quickly as it did is that they did not have time to get through all of the processes required to close off various valves that would have stopped water getting in. Think about that.

      On takeoff the altitude is so low that they do not have a lot of time to react so that if disabling MCAS and recovering takes 30 seconds to do, that might be too long.

    33. Re: New data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah Hilda, it was not your fault. Now back to bed !

    34. Re:New data? by mjwx · · Score: 1

      grounding all Boeing 737 MAX aircraft on March 13, citing new data

      New data my ass. The planes have been grounded because all the countries worldwide were banning them, including China and the whole EU. Grounding them from the very first moment would have been much more sensible from Boeing.

      Countries around the globe have been banning them because there has been 2 fatal accidents within six months within the first 2 years of the aircraft's operation.

      The A380 has been operating for over 11 years and not a single fatal accident. Commercial aviation is that insanely safe because most aviation safety authorities around the world take any issue incredibly seriously.

      In fact only one major authority was reluctant in grounding the 737 MAX fleet and that nation just happened to be the one that built them. No conflict of interest there. No siree. None what so ever.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    35. Re:New data? by mjwx · · Score: 1

      Stock will drop to a more realistic P/E, then I will pile in and pick up some bargains. BA is not going anywhere. Long BA.

      Not sure what British Airways has to do with this... but if they aren't going anywhere they wont be in business long.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    36. Re: New data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The pilots were not fucking trained. Every report Ive read says that Boeing built the plane the way they did so they wouldn't have to retrain pilots thus making it cheaper. They basically took rigged the plane to make the engines fit,

    37. Re: New data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      C6Cummer blaming it on pilots again. Fucking repubtard idiot.

    38. Re: New data? by jeremyp · · Score: 1

      China was the first ones

      LOL U cant even get ur singulas and plural rite!!!!!!!!! ROFL!!!!

      I can't tell you how hard that was to type with autocorrect on.

      --
      All I want is a secure system where it's easy to do anything I want. Is that too much to ask ~~ Randall Munroe
    39. Re:New data? by jeremyp · · Score: 1

      So basically, they installed a feature to make a new plane fly like an old one so they wouldn't have to retrain pilots. Now you're saying that pilots need training to use a feature that's supposed to obviate the need for training.

      I can't help thinking it would be better to get rid of the feature and stop pretending it isn't a new plane with different flight characteristics.

      --
      All I want is a secure system where it's easy to do anything I want. Is that too much to ask ~~ Randall Munroe
    40. Re: New data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They also found the horizontal stabilizer jackscrew from the Ethiopian plane was in the full down position in the wreckage. That was a much more important piece of evidence than the ads-b data.

    41. Re: New data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The procedure for runaway trim has been taught to 737 pilots for decades. This is not unique or different for MCAS.

    42. Re: New data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or you could just properly fix the non-failsafe fault handling in MCAS so the system works safely as intended and go about your life.

  5. Re:Sorry Kendall, C6gummer, you're grounded. by iggymanz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You're a bit early to be running off at the mouth about that AC, until investigations start making reports

  6. Will Boeing survive this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    They have shed $30+ billions from their market cap and it's continuing to plummet. But the worst is to come: the lawsuits could do to them what it did to Pan-Am back in the day. This is shaping up to look like gross negligence on the part of Boeing.

    They will be facing an unprecedented liability over this due to the choices they made for the purpose of putting profits over human lives. This thing should never have been force-fit into the 737 type rating to "save money" and doing that led directly to a mess of an airplane. Combine that with the engineering choices made over insufficient redundancy and not telling pilots about the new "software" managed systems which were shoehorned in, and it's not looking very good for the survival of Boeing. Some market analysts are predicting a bankruptcy out of this, before all is said and done.

    1. Re:Will Boeing survive this? by ghoul · · Score: 1

      Either Boeing will survive this and go to 500 dollar or it will go bankrupt. The smart money is to buy a 1 year 450 dollar call and a 1 year 300 dollar put and then watch. Either one will be profitable while the other is lost cost. NO way is it going to stay within the 300-450 range.

      --
      **Life is too short to be serious**
    2. Re:Will Boeing survive this? by Spy+Handler · · Score: 1, Insightful

      There is nothing unprecedented here, unless you're a newb to aviation. Shit like this happens once in a while, and life goes on. Air France pitot tube disaster didn't bankrupt Airbus or Air France.

    3. Re:Will Boeing survive this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Boeing stock is down 1% today, but down 15% since it became clear the 737-Max is a flying deathtrap. High of 440, today's close 372.

      Boeing supplier stocks are also getting hit.

    4. Re:Will Boeing survive this? by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Mil and gov side will look after them.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    5. Re: Will Boeing survive this? by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

      While US operators like Southwest might not (since they use Boeing exclusively) a lot of the international operators will be looking towards Boeing to recoup the costs of either sitting the planes or leasing (wet or dry) replacement aircraft. Word is right now it wont be until at least late April for the FAA to approve the MAX for flight. And that's just for the software fix and related training. If they find additional issues from the data analysis, it could be longer.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    6. Re:Will Boeing survive this? by Richard_at_work · · Score: 1

      Airbuses last two new aircraft programs didn't suffer worldwide fleet groundings, and they certainly didn't suffer multiple crashes...

      AF447s root cause (pitot icing issues) was caused by a known issue that had already been notified to airlines with a recommendation.

    7. Re:Will Boeing survive this? by jonwil · · Score: 1

      There is no way in hell the governments of this world would allow Boeing to go bust. Far too many Boeing products out there that need ongoing support (spare parts, software fixes and all the other stuff) not to mention all the jobs that would be lost.

    8. Re:Will Boeing survive this? by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      True. They might have trouble selling new planes though. The 737 is their bread and butter... would you order a fleet of them for your airline when Airbus has a direct replacement that hasn't been the subject of a shitstorm?

      The new 777 might get off to a slow start too, especially since it's got even more new features. The 737's problems seem to stem from sticking giant engines on a 1960s design that's major feature is how low to to the ground it is. The new 777 has folding wings.

    9. Re:Will Boeing survive this? by prisoner-of-enigma · · Score: 1

      They will be facing an unprecedented liability over this due to the choices they made for the purpose of putting profits over human lives.

      One thing you are neglecting is pressure airlines put on Boeing to make the MAX in such a way as they wouldn't have to certify pilots on a different type. There are substantial costs to airlines for such training.

      --
      In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, Make us your slaves, but feed us. - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
    10. Re:Will Boeing survive this? by ayesnymous · · Score: 1

      Yes, they will easily survive. BP survived. Equifax survived.

    11. Re:Will Boeing survive this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think it make a nice round trip to the 400's after the issue dies down and fix is put into place.

      Which right now is an unknown time frame. Besides, you are hoping that there aren't any law suits in the case.

    12. Re:Will Boeing survive this? by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      But the worst is to come: the lawsuits could do to them what it did to Pan-Am back in the day. This is shaping up to look like gross negligence on the part of Boeing.

      The FAA issued an emergency AD back in November on this specific issue. Boeing contacted all customers back in November on this specific issue.

      Airlines that do not comply with AD are at fault. Airlines that ignore notices from aircraft manufacturers are at fault. Airlines that defer maintenance of safety-critical systems, as happened with the Lion Air crash, are at fault.

      Yes, people are going to sue the deepest pockets they can find. That doesn't mean they will win, or that they are right.

      Someone posted a link to the preliminary report of the first crash yesterday. You should read it. It contains copies of the FAA and Boeing actions, as well as a slew of stuff from the airline that was involved.

    13. Re: Will Boeing survive this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This was not the airlines call. This was Boeing's call. And they made the wrong choice. And people died for it. Open up your checkbook.

  7. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1, Troll

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  8. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  9. FAA is implicated too by tinkerton · · Score: 4, Informative

    This was published in november: https://christinenegroni.com/7...
    By then it was already clear that Boeing had quietly added a new MCAS antistall mechanism to make the new plane somewhat act like the old plane and in this way allow pilots to switch from the old plane to the new plane without costs of retraining, and the FAA had let it pass.
    Since then the MCAS documentation has been made available to the pilots but that is not enough. MCAS has been badly implemented.

    1. Re:FAA is implicated too by nyet · · Score: 1

      I would love to see the damn raw AoA data.

      http://nefariousmotorsports.co...

    2. Re:FAA is implicated too by mjwx · · Score: 1

      This was published in november: https://christinenegroni.com/7...
      By then it was already clear that Boeing had quietly added a new MCAS antistall mechanism to make the new plane somewhat act like the old plane and in this way allow pilots to switch from the old plane to the new plane without costs of retraining, and the FAA had let it pass.
      Since then the MCAS documentation has been made available to the pilots but that is not enough. MCAS has been badly implemented.

      The reason Boeing had added the MCAS system is because the new CFM International LEAP 1B engines were too big to fit with the 737's frames current ground clearance. If you look at the 737 NG engines you'll notice they are oval-shaped with flat bottoms because some of the parts had to be relocated to the side in order to fit them under the wings. As the LEAP engines are even bigger, Boeing had to move them forward of the wing and raise them. This had the nasty effect of putting the thrust line directly under the wing, changing the handling characteristics of the aircraft, particularly making it possible for the engines to increase the angle of attack.

      Part of the MCAS system is the anti-stall measure which is designed to point the nose of the aircraft down by means of adjusting the elevators when it detects an angle of attack increasing to a point where a stall might be a possibility. The problem that caused the Lion Air flight JT610 was that it did this erroneously and pointed the nose of the plane towards the ground.

      The problem that Boeing has is that software is too unreliable to fix the issue of bad engineering. The engines need to be moved back under the wing so that the thrust line is not going under the wing any more. This means either raising the ground clearance of the frame, or fitting smaller engines. Rushing out a software fix is likely to result in more bugs.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    3. Re:FAA is implicated too by tinkerton · · Score: 1

      I think a real discussion could be had here is to what extent the purpose of the antistall mechanism is marketing driven (avoid retraining) and to what extent it is a fix for a serious engineering problem.

      Two versions:
      The relocation of the engines changed the flight behaviour. This means the pilots had to adjust to that.I assume that the pilots could do so very well, but the rules are that they have to retrain which is expensive. The purpose of the antistall mechanism is to avoid the retraining.
      Or: the flight behaviour was really compromised and the antistall mechanism was necessary.

      Then I'd point out that there was a choice not to mention the new mechanism because that would be a concession that there is something new to adapt to. And on top of that the implementation of the antistall mech is a hack: unreliable sensors, lack of redundancy in the mechanism, algorithms which rely too much on these sensors, difficulty in disabling/overriding the mechanism. This is about more than the algorithms, it's the whole mechanism.

    4. Re:FAA is implicated too by tinkerton · · Score: 1

      It's the first time i see such data. Interesting. You can see how one sensor early on diverges and it keeps doing its job , only 'tilted' with 20 degrees difference. MCAS intervention is not simply based on the sensors because they don't have any exceptional values when it starts pushing down the nose.

    5. Re:FAA is implicated too by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      This had the nasty effect of putting the thrust line directly under the wing, changing the handling characteristics of the aircraft, particularly making it possible for the engines to increase the angle of attack.

      Oh my, this is unconscionable.

      Oh wait. Every aircraft I have ever flown has an engine in a place where changing thrust will either cause a pitch up or down. It depends on where the center of thrust is compared to the center of mass. And learning how and why it happens is part of learning how to fly.

      The engines need to be moved back under the wing so that the thrust line is not going under the wing any more.

      Ummm, moving the engines "back under the wing" certainly is going to have the "thrust line" going under the wing. Please explain why you think an engine under a wing isn't producing thrust centered under the wing. Magic? Thrust happens ten feet above the engine, maybe?

  10. Re: Sorry Kendall, C6gummer, you're grounded. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Reeeeeeeeeeeeee! Reeeeee

  11. Re:Sorry Kendall, C6gummer, you're grounded. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    You missed "Eyewitness report notoriously unreliable"

  12. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 0

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  13. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 0

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  14. Re: Sorry Kendall, C6gummer, you're grounded. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    fuck off ivan you have all been exposed

  15. Re:Wrong Again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ban the U.S. manufactured plane based on nothing but a feeling.

    Yes, of course, that's how aviation safety agencies work. Fucking moron.

  16. 737 Max is a frankenstein's monster by ghoul · · Score: 4, Informative

    It has fuselage from the 737, Engines from the 787, flight controls from the A320 (the famous plane where the automation led to crashes. Now 737 Max has taken that mantle)

    Boeing should have done a clean sheet design as a replacement of 737 instead of putting engines so big on an airframe meant for much smaller engine.

    They created and unstable plane and tried to fix it in software.

    While this is an approach often used in fighter jets which are deliberately made unstable so that they can change directions easily its not something you do on a civilian airplane. A civilian pilot does not have the reflexes of a fighter pilot to fix things if the computer is misbehaving

    To recap the plane was too small for the engines they wanted to put on it. So they put the engines in a cantilevered position so now the center of thrust was significantly away from the centre of gravity and the plane had a tendency to pitch up and stall. To avoid this they added MCAS which would pitch the nose down in case of a stall detection. To detect the stall they used the AoA sensor and in a freshman Fault Tolerant Computing bug depended on only one sensor when they had 2. They made the warning light showing the AoA sensor is broken an option (only American signed up for this option which is probably why American hasnt had a crash). Then to make things worse they didnt tell the pilots. Also in the NG if the auto trim was runaway pulling back on the yoke would disengage the auto trim. With MCAS they changed this. The auto trim would only disengage for 10 seconds and then MCAS would add more trim and it would keep adding more and more trim till the pilots could not counter even if they pulled the yoke all the way back. Again a software bug. Further to make things worse THEY DID NOT TELL THE PILOTS ABOUT THIS CHANGE. So the yoke maneouver does not work so the only maneovour that works is disengaing the trim using the 2 cutoff switches but this only disengages the Auto trim. If the plane is already nose down it doesnt go back to normal trim. Now you have to pull back on the yoke which was not working till a moment ago or spin two manual trim wheels to get the trim back. All this is happening close to ground as MCAS only engages at low speeds found at takeoff.

    Boeing could have avoided this in many ways

    1) Build a clean sheet design which is stable with the larger engines
    2) Failing that build a MCAS which is fault tolerant with multiple sensors or can be countermanded by the pilot by pulling back on the yoke (This is what they are doing now with the software fix). Not ideal for if the pilot is really flying badly now he can stall the plane
    3) Failing that tell the pilots about the MCAS system, the change in the yoke behaviour and have them go through difference training.

    They did not do 1 as it would cost too much money
    They did not do 3 as they wanted to avoid airlines having to train pilots making the plane easier to sell. One of the reasons there are 5000 737 Max orders is that it needs no crosstraining to fly (officially)
    They did not do 2 because of sheer laziness or stupidity in the engineering team

    So the Engineering team is now fixing their error No 2. But the Exec team's error No 1 and the Marketing team's error no 3 are still not fixed.

    --
    **Life is too short to be serious**
    1. Re:737 Max is a frankenstein's monster by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Unfortunately they were a victim of market forces in deciding to re-engine. They had to make a response to Airbus, and a clean sheet airplane would have pushed their biggest client to Airbus due to fuel costs, as it would take about 3 year longer.

      That said, the solution is miserable and should not have been certifiable based on what we are hearing now. For Boeing’s sake, I hope they didn’t realize just how bad it was before the first unit was handed over.

    2. Re:737 Max is a frankenstein's monster by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It does not use engines from the 787. It uses these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CFM_International_LEAP

    3. Re:737 Max is a frankenstein's monster by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They did not do 2 because of the people responsible for 1, not because the engineers were too lazy.

      Boeing is agile, and so they stick to the release date regardless of whether the s/w is ready. They'll just patch it later. Engineers were probably screaming about this but were told they would get no bonus, no raises, and that 20% of them would lose their jobs if they didn't release on the release date. With that kind of gun to your head, you do what you are told.

    4. Re:737 Max is a frankenstein's monster by LinuxIsGarbage · · Score: 5, Informative

      flight controls from the A320 (the famous plane where the automation led to crashes.

      Which famous crashes? I only quickly browsed through the List on Wikipedia and the only one that stood out was Lufthansa Flight 1829, that due to TWO faults AoA sensors (unlike 737-MAX's 1 faulty AoA sensor), commanded a nose down stall recovery. Pilots disconnected the system and recovered.

      There is Air France 447, on an Airbus A330. There was a sensor malfunction which led to a sensor discrepancy. The plane detected this, deactivated Auto pilot, and switched to Alternate law. Allowing the pilot to operate outside the protected operating envelope that people blame fly by wire on. They pulled the nose up, the plane responded to the command, told them they were going to enter a stall, then let them enter a stall, and the plane continued to respond to their command for nose up elevator, with 100% thrust, in a stall, all the way from 38,000 ft to the ground. You also had poor crew management where they were both trying to fly the plane with opposing commands on the controls. How should the plane know how to react to such poor crew resource management?

      You do also have the A320 that successfully ditched on the Hudson. One of the only cases of a commercial jet successfully ditching.

    5. Re:737 Max is a frankenstein's monster by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      I think he was probably referring to the Air France A330. Unfortunately for his point, the problem there was genuine pilot error after the software did the right thing.

    6. Re:737 Max is a frankenstein's monster by ghoul · · Score: 1

      If you read the article you linked to you would see that the CFM Leap is a scaled down version of the GenX used on the 787.

      --
      **Life is too short to be serious**
    7. Re:737 Max is a frankenstein's monster by ghoul · · Score: 1

      American did force their hand but Boeing is not a small company. They have a pretty much unlimited amount of cash from Defense contracts. If any company is in a position to do the right thing its Boeing.

      --
      **Life is too short to be serious**
    8. Re:737 Max is a frankenstein's monster by Richard_at_work · · Score: 1

      American didn't actually force Boeings hand, because when they split their order between Airbus and Boeing, they ordered the A320NEO and "whatever aircraft Boeing come up with as a 737NG replacement". It was pretty unprecedented.

      At that time, Boeing still had the narrow body replacement under study - they could easily have continued with a clean sheet.

      So no, it wasn't American that forced Boeings hand.

      It was, however, the thousands of other orders Airbus were picking up from 737 customers...

    9. Re:737 Max is a frankenstein's monster by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 1

      The smoking gun for this incident isn't going to be what the final report says. It'll be on some notes by some engineer when this project started saying everything above. There isn't a way that this project made it this far without some intelligent engineers speaking up and getting over ruled by management.

      I lasted exactly 45 days in Aerospace. It was terrifying, they picked a "COTS" architecture that hasn't been "COTS" since the Macintosh moved away from 68k. I was told to 'deal with it'. Other people quipped that "this wasn't the worst design decision he's seen". The schedule was everything.

      But everything HAD to move forward according to THIS timeline because someone already bought it. In those 45 days I had to work on trial versions of everything, they couldn't figure out how to get us licensed in to their network. Everyone else on the project had always been in aerospace, so this was 'par for the course'. I came from automotive where we actually did put safety first (at least where I worked).

      I want to see the MIL/SIL/HIL reports. This should have been caught in the plant model long before it came to market. There should be a high-fidelity model that shows this exact scenario and how it plays out. It was buried for some reason or another. If there isn't then they didn't test as comprehensively as they should have (because of rushing to market).

      There are a lot of people, like the poster above, that come to the same conclusions. It's an 'unstable pendulum' that they thought they could just 'fix it in software'. Good hardware design is crucial to a good controllable system.

      Someone spoke up, either they have an e-mail in a safe (like Audi's Dieselgate) or they're no longer with Boeing (or one of their subcontractors like GE, or GE's subcontractors) because they did speak up and were told they were 'toxic to the project'.

    10. Re:737 Max is a frankenstein's monster by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      A civilian pilot does not have the reflexes of a fighter pilot to fix things if the computer is misbehaving
      Actually they have.
      However the plane is super heavy and has lots of inertia, the engines are relatively weak. And a plane that size reacts slowly to the stick ...

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    11. Re: 737 Max is a frankenstein's monster by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, in other words it's not the same engine as used on the 787.

    12. Re: 737 Max is a frankenstein's monster by c6gunner · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I'm amazed that someone so full of shit can write such a long comment. Others have already addressed some of your nonsense, so I'll focus on this bit:

      Failing that build a MCAS which is fault tolerant with multiple sensors or can be countermanded by the pilot by pulling back on the yoke (This is what they are doing now with the software fix).

      That's just a lie which demonstrates that you don't even understand the systems being discussed. If pulling back on the yoke resulted in disengaging MCAS, then they system would literally never operate. That wouldn't be a software update so much as a permanent off switch.

    13. Re:737 Max is a frankenstein's monster by sonamchauhan · · Score: 1

      So they had 3 seperate chances to take the right path.

      1. Design the airplane right
      2. Design the workaround right
      3. Train the pilots right

      They chose the wrong path 3 times, taking shortcuts instead. Why?

      The only common reason I can think of: Greed.

      Saving dollars on manpower, sensors.. making the model appeal more to customers, shortening time-to-market, taking business away from competitors.

    14. Re:737 Max is a frankenstein's monster by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      and in a freshman Fault Tolerant Computing bug depended on only one sensor when they had 2.

      Thought experiment for you:
      How do you determine which sensor is correct?
      What is the safe reaction to the sensor value?

      Let's see how "freshmen" you can get.

    15. Re:737 Max is a frankenstein's monster by ghoul · · Score: 1

      You have 3 sensors and vote. If all 3 are showing different values you take the middle value or if you rally want to be safe dont fly.

      If you are too cheap to have 3 than you at least check both are agreeing, if they ar not agreeing you dont trigger MCAS instead show a warning that the AoA is not working as at least one is incorrect if not both and again if this is before takeoff you dont takeoff.
      The American Airlines planes actually have this indicator but Boeing made this an optional feature and both planes that crashed did not have this warning light.

      --
      **Life is too short to be serious**
    16. Re:737 Max is a frankenstein's monster by 6Yankee · · Score: 1

      Air France 296? A320s may be good at topiary, but you can only use them once.

    17. Re:737 Max is a frankenstein's monster by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1

      There is Air France 447, on an Airbus A330. There was a sensor malfunction which led to a sensor discrepancy. The plane detected this, deactivated Auto pilot, and switched to Alternate law. Allowing the pilot to operate outside the protected operating envelope that people blame fly by wire on. They pulled the nose up, the plane responded to the command, told them they were going to enter a stall, then let them enter a stall, and the plane continued to respond to their command for nose up elevator, with 100% thrust, in a stall, all the way from 38,000 ft to the ground. You also had poor crew management where they were both trying to fly the plane with opposing commands on the controls. How should the plane know how to react to such poor crew resource management?

      Some of your details are right in that the plane detecting all 3 speed sensors failing switched off Autopilot; however, the design of the Airbus 330 did contribute to the crash. For example the throttle position was at 100% but it was at 80-85% thrust. This is one of problems of some of the Airbus controls in that they are electronic and don't reflect actual physical position. When the pilots put the plane into autopilot they set the thrust and pitch electronically but the throttle stick itself doesn't move to match.

      Another manifestation of this design is that two joysticks are not mechanically linked like they are in older planes or Boeing planes. The Pilot Flying (PF) was on the right side. His joystick was on the right side so it was obscured from the view of the more senior pilot in charge. The PF was trying to pull back to climb out of a stall which is the worst thing you can do; however, it wasn't until the plane had lost a lot of altitude when the senior pilot discovered this and tried to take control. Since the joysticks are not linked the senior pilot wouldn't have know the PF was trying to climb. His joystick does not mirror what the other pilot is doing. In yoke-style controls of older planes, the senior pilot would have know immediately that the PF was pulling back as the yoke would be on his chest.

      Yes pilot error was the main reason for the crash but the cockpit design contributed.

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
    18. Re: 737 Max is a frankenstein's monster by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They did not properly account for AoA sensor failure rates. 5 sensors would have much better total failure rate, at minimal cost. Bad safety engineering.

      They not warn pilots to shut off the MCAS early and often.

      Having said that even AF pilots were not able to handle pitot tube failure. Despite one of the Airbus lead nations being France.

      The MCAS probably works as required in their engineering specification. They probably also have tons of unit and hil test code for it.

      The concept and the pilot training is at fault.

    19. Re: 737 Max is a frankenstein's monster by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Two sensors: if sufficiently different, Fault the signal for all consumers, such as MCAS. They must then go to "Safe State", which in case of MCAS is "disengage"

      Three sensors, five sensors: if a majority agrees, use that as a valid AoA value.

      Also, turn on a big red light that reads "MCAS OFF". Another red light "AoA unreliable".

      Train pilots what to do in case MCAS is disengaged. Don't cover up the existence of MCAS. It's a vital system.

      Don't play junior moneychanger. Be an engineer.

    20. Re:737 Max is a frankenstein's monster by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      You have 3 sensors and vote.

      You don't have 3 sensors available, you've changed the design of the plane. But since you're advanced enough to acknowledge that 2 sensors aren't suitable you're a damn sight better than most of the Slashdot armchair wannabie engineers, so I tip my hat to you already since this would be the only solution that really makes sense.

      But let's continue. You've just designated the "safe" state to disable a fundamental stability system on the plane, one which makes the plane respond differently to the pilot. This is an incredibly dangerous thing to do.

      I do agree you don't fly without working instruments, and I'd be very surprised if this wasn't already the case.

    21. Re:737 Max is a frankenstein's monster by radarskiy · · Score: 1

      "It has fuselage from the 737, Engines from the 787, flight controls from the A320"

      The 787 can use two kinds engines, from two different manufacturers, which are 40% larger than the engines for the 737 MAX8 which are from a third manufacturer. The A320 is from a completely different manufacturer and most definitely doesn't not share avionics.

      Out of three factual statements made here, only one is correct. I would suggest this does not bode well for the "informative" moderation of the rest of the post

    22. Re:737 Max is a frankenstein's monster by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unfortunately they were a victim of market forces in deciding to re-engine. They had to make a response to Airbus, and a clean sheet airplane would have pushed their biggest client to Airbus due to fuel costs, as it would take about 3 year longer.

      Well, that is just an excuse, not reason. Because they are losing money, so they simply trade safety for money. If they can't do it in time, they can't do it and just walk away. But no, they came up with a solution (patch the issue with a software), and now it has already caused more serious problem than they can take.

    23. Re:737 Max is a frankenstein's monster by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not really a gun. Wouldn't it be better to lose a job than participate in murder?

    24. Re:737 Max is a frankenstein's monster by LinuxIsGarbage · · Score: 1

      You mean when they were foolishly doing stunts in an A320 at low altitude?

    25. Re:737 Max is a frankenstein's monster by ghoul · · Score: 1

      The 787 can use GenX from GE Aviation. The Leap engine is from a joint venture of GE Aviation and Safran which uses a scaled down core from the GenX engine.

      The A320 was infamous for not trusting pilots and having the computer override them. At that time Boeing went on to advertize that in Boeing planes the pilots are always in control. Basically Airbus has had this kid of system for long time and initially they too had crashes as pilots got used to being not in final control.
      This is the first time Boeing has put a similar control in where the computer overrides the pilot instead of just warning him/her.
      Thats what I meant avionics from the A320. Obviuosly Boeing and Airbus are not using the same supplier for their software (for one Airbus's software works)

      --
      **Life is too short to be serious**
    26. Re:737 Max is a frankenstein's monster by ghoul · · Score: 1

      Planes fly with broken instruments all the time. The manufacturer provides lists of what is critical and what can be worked around through override procedures. AoA sensors were not on the critical list earlier as MCAS did not exist. Evidently it was not moved to the critical list even though now with MCAS a AoA malfunction can cause a crash.

      Also the AoA diagree warning light was made an option. It really should have been mandatory with MCAS being on the plane.

      --
      **Life is too short to be serious**
  17. Re:Wrong Again by Streetlight · · Score: 1

    Perhaps in the case of plane crashes behaving irrationally isn't a bad thing. Lives are at stake and waiting a short time for data to prove or disprove the need to ground the model of aircraft in this type of situation may be the better policy. Not that we'd expect a third crash in the few days required to examine the flight data, should one have occurred, the FAA would look pretty bad for not grounding these planes.

    --
    In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
  18. IT'S NOT THE BEER IT'S THE LYING, FAGGOT KEN DOLL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    " They see people almost being denied a supreme court seat because they once had a beer while in school." - No, he perjured himself under oath. It's not the beer, you lying faggot. IT'S THE LYING, YOU LYING FAGGOT.

    Kavanaugh pretended his "Renate Alumnius" was a badge of honor, that "boofing" wasn't anal sex (it was, I was alive then and that was the slang) and "Devil's Triangle" wasn't a drinking game. It clearly is.

    YOU TELL A LIE UNDER OATH AND YOU ARE A CRIMINAL. That he basically ATTEMPTED TO RAPE A CLASSMATE also didn't really rise to the occasion of a lifetime appointment to the SCOTUS without investigation.

    But with TRAITOR SUPPORTING DISHONEST FAGGOTS LIKE YOURSELF in charge? He sailed right through anyway, to lie another day.

    Dry your eyes, traitor. Your little perjurer didn't get caught - yet!

  19. IT'S NOT THE BEER IT'S THE LYING, FAGGOT KEN DOLL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    " They see people almost being denied a supreme court seat because they once had a beer while in school." - No, he perjured himself under oath. It's not the beer, you lying faggot. IT'S THE LYING, YOU LYING FAGGOT.

    Kavanaugh pretended his "Renate Alumnius" was a badge of honor, that "boofing" wasn't anal sex (it was, I was alive then and that was the slang) and "Devil's Triangle" wasn't a drinking game. It clearly is.

    YOU TELL A LIE UNDER OATH AND YOU ARE A CRIMINAL. That he basically ATTEMPTED TO RAPE A CLASSMATE also didn't really rise to the occasion of a lifetime appointment to the SCOTUS without investigation.

    But with TRAITOR SUPPORTING DISHONEST FAGGOTS LIKE YOURSELF in charge? He sailed right through anyway, to lie another day.

    Dry your eyes, traitor. Your little perjurer didn't get caught - yet!

  20. Re: Sorry Kendall, C6gummer, you're grounded. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Learn how moderation works and ac posts won't be a problem.

    Granted it'd be even better if Slashdot wasn't run out of the back of someone's cigarette-stained efficiency and had the money to update - god help me - the ol' hosts.deny file. It's 2019; the shitters here are hardly intelligent enough to route around simple IP blocks. Half the contributing users aren't, after all.

  21. You all need to chill out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why so much anger here? You all should smoke some Skywalker OG and relax, enjoy life a little.

    1. Re:You all need to chill out by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Americans can be *very* loyal to Boeing. Kind of like the few people who still insist GM or Ford are the greatest, even though Japanese manufacturers make far better vehicles. ;)

      Now if you want to get Canadians riled up, say something bad about Bombardier... no most of us hate them too.

  22. Re:Sorry Kendall, C6gummer, you're grounded. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Mr. bobmorning;

    I don't think you realize the danger of your first sentence.
    I know of people denied employment because of humorous postings here on /.
    because their ID was traceable (yeah, they were dumb enough to post logged in).
    This ain't the 80's - the internet is very dangerous and anonymity is really important.

  23. There is a word for this. by 3seas · · Score: 1

    Overcomplexifabulocation.

    Aerospace "Mission critical" software is made very different than consumer software. It is done this way to avoid potential fails from the likes of function calls, goto's, procedures calls, etc. by not using such methods and by using development tools that automates a lot of code creation. There is well defined mathematics involved in the coding.

    With this in mind it'll be interesting to see where the software fail happened. I wouldn't be surprised if competing software development tools were used as they tend to not be compatible for market lock in.

    1. Re:There is a word for this. by az-saguaro · · Score: 1

      While your comments are sound, "where the software fail happened" may not be correct apropos of your premise about technically robust coding practices. The problem could just be bad design and logic. The software could be perfect in that there are no errant procedure calls, no faulty branch logic, no page faults, no divide by zeros, no stack overwrites, etc. But, imagine we lived in a community where, by law, vehicles are only permitted to make right turns (to make a left, make three rights). So, to sell vehicles in Rightville, an electric vehicle manufacturer assiduously writes perfect software to make only right turns. But, to avoid hitting a pedestrian, a driver is forced to make a left, and the software, not understanding, does stupid things. All the while, nobody in software engineering remembered that possibility, or the execs said "screw it, can never happen, too expensive to code". But, agreed, " it'll be interesting to see where the software fail happened".

  24. Re:Wrong Again by LinuxIsGarbage · · Score: 1

    Other countries: Ban the U.S. manufactured plane based on nothing but a feeling.

    U.S.: Bans plane based on actual compelling link between two crashes.

    I wonder who behaved more rationally and correctly here...

    If the plane had been an Airbus, you would have seen equal caution from other countries in an outright ban on the model.

    Of course given the FAA is pushing towards more industry self-regulation, I'm sure Boeing would be jumping at the opportunity to ground their airplanes and bring into question the safety of their products, and the inevitable drop in stock value...

    Two seconds of looking at data from Flightradar 24 shows very similar profiles from both flights.

  25. MAX really needs more pilot training by Eravnrekaree · · Score: 1

    The Pratt And Whitney engines used by AeroBus, PW1000, have very low fuel efficiency compared to other engines of the same size, they could be swapped in for older engines onto new AeroBus airplanes very easily. Boeing was trying to compete with these but had to use larger engines that did not benefit from the same technology (patents?). It used software, however, to make the MAX airplane fly like a 737, even though its not really a 737. Because airlines do not want to retrain pilots, it glossed over the differences between MAX and 737 in the manual and did not cover important issues relating to the software, to give the impression it was a simple plane to fly. So when the plane misbehaved, the pilots did not know what was happening and how to handle the situation.

    Southwest was the one airline that decided to give pilots additional MAX training and retrofit the airplanes to detect failed sensors to prevent problems with MAX. They deserve a reward for this.

    All Max plans should have redundant sensors and raise an alarm if a sensor problem is detected.

    1. Re:MAX really needs more pilot training by ghoul · · Score: 1

      As I read American chose to have the warning light which tells them that the AoA sensors are disagreeing. Didnt know Southwest had chosen to have the same warning lights.
      If thats the case and American and Southwest have procedures in place that the AoA sensor is on the critical list and planes dont take off if they are broken than FAA was probably justified in not grounding planes in the US.
      United flies the Max 9 which has not had crashes and as its a stretch it probably has differnt aerodynamics and doesnt suffer from the same pitch up problem .

      --
      **Life is too short to be serious**
    2. Re:MAX really needs more pilot training by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      The PW1100G and CFM LEAP are pretty similar in size. The A320 can use either. The LEAP 1B from the 737 MAX is actually smaller than the LEAP 1A used on the A320 NEO.

      The problem is that the 737 was designed to sit very low to the ground. It makes loading and unloading baggage a lot easier, and is a major selling point. On the original 737 it wasn't a big deal because the low bypass turbofans of the era were small diameter. Newer planes had to use high bypass turbofans, and actually needed specially designed engines with the supporting bits moved around so they could be flattened at the bottom to still clear the ground. Modern engines are even higher bypass, with bigger diameters, so Boeing had to shift them forward and raise them up.

  26. Re: Wrong Again by c6gunner · · Score: 1

    Of course given the FAA is pushing towards more industry self-regulation, I'm sure Boeing would be jumping at the opportunity to ground their airplanes and bring into question the safety of their products, and the inevitable drop in stock value...

    Funny you should say that ....

    "Boeing continues to have full confidence in the safety of the 737 MAX. However, after consultation with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and aviation authorities and its customers around the world, Boeing has determined -- out of an abundance of caution and in order to reassure the flying public of the aircraftâ(TM)s safety -- to recommend to the FAA the temporary suspension of operations of the entire global fleet of 371 737 MAX aircraft."

    https://boeing.mediaroom.com/n...

  27. Re: Wrong Again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You're either an idiot or a Boeing stockholder. Maybe even a combination of both.

  28. Re: Wrong Again by c6gunner · · Score: 1

    I'm not a stock holder yet; I'm actually waiting for it to drop some more before I buy. Want to maximize my profits. All the gloom-and-doom idiots are doing me a favour in that respect, but they're still fucking annoying.

  29. Re:Wrong Again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wonder who behaved more rationally and correctly here...

    It depends upon how you define "rationally."

    You could define it as "helping save the most lives" OR "helping corporations make the most money", but not both.

  30. Re:Sorry Kendall, C6gummer, you're grounded. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Some day you're going to get your face smashed when you talk shit to the wrong person.

  31. Re: Wrong Again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you define it as either of those things, you're a moron.

  32. Re:Sorry Kendall, C6gummer, you're grounded. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nope, there's a Trump executive order and a lot of Comac propaganda. 1Hz pressure altitude data off ADS-B is merely an alibi. I'd use it if ti's all I'm going to get, but the likelihood of recovering the DFDR and CVR warrants a bit of analysis instead of an Orange kneejerk reaction.

  33. Ford Pinto, redux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Rampant corruption in the US means that two planes HAD TO CRASH prior to anything being done.

    Remember Ford Pinto?

    Well, the Boeing 737 Max saga is a rehash of what happened back in the late 1970's.

    https://users.wfu.edu/palmitar...

    In both case NTSB didn't do nothing UNTIL massive backlash from the userland !!

  34. Why FAA certified a Frankenstein's Monster? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It has fuselage from the 737, Engines from the 787, flight controls from the A320 (the famous plane where the automation led to crashes. Now 737 Max has taken that mantle)

    Boeing should have done a clean sheet design as a replacement of 737 instead of putting engines so big on an airframe meant for much smaller engine.

    They created and unstable plane and tried to fix it in software.

    The 737 Max may have been a Frankenstein's Monster, but WHY FAA CERTIFIED IT in the first place?

    Why FAA gave its blessings to a Frankenstein's Monster?

    Has FAA become a rubber-stamping agency?

    Why is the safety of the public no longer the priority of FAA, when they certifies new model of airplanes?

    1. Re: Why FAA certified a Frankenstein's Monster? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why did they allow the 787 battery burnliner ?

      Because the western world is by now full of corrupt people who want bullet lists checked, but never dive deed into a problem.

      Lithiium batterys are a known hazard and the FAA ignored it until the burnliner events. Even before that, a Boeing supplier site burned down while developing a charging system.

      Boeing knew full well, but moved ahead. Criminal moneychanger agents they are.

  35. I'm amazed by PseudoRandom+Coward · · Score: 1

    It seems like the number of highly trained aviation experts in the world increases by an order of magnitude every time a plane crashes.

  36. Re:Sorry Kendall, C6gummer, you're grounded. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Shut your punk ass bitch mouth before I turn it into your new asshole. I'm zero percent intimidated by nazi faggots like you. Zero. You cowards will never matter and if I see you? You will die.

  37. Re: Wrong Again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He is a nationalist. Nationalism makes people stupid(er)!

  38. Re:Wrong Again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    OK supertwat:

    Other countries: Ban plane based on the precautionary principle after two very similar looking 100% fatal crashes.

    US: Attempt to find any reason not to ban plane to prevent financial damage to Boeing, but belatedly find a reason when it's clear that's not going to wash and passengers would refuse to fly on it.

  39. Re: IT'S NOT THE BEER IT'S THE LYING, FAGGOT KEN D by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sure Communist, whatever your agents claim...

  40. Re: Wrong Again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah. Better be a moneychanger victim.

  41. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  42. Re: Wrong Again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nope, you are just a known liar. Blaming it on the pilots. We wish you were in that plane instead. One less liar to deal with.

  43. Re:Wrong Again by jeremyp · · Score: 1

    So there's been a crash in which the erroneous intervention of an automated system was a factor, a number of incidents in which pilot intervention saved the airframe (including one with the aircraft that crashed) and a second crash which looked like it might be related (and the evidence in that direction has only got stronger since the first grounding notifications).

    I think I would ground the aircraft.

    --
    All I want is a secure system where it's easy to do anything I want. Is that too much to ask ~~ Randall Munroe
  44. Re: Wrong Again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Other than the fact neither plane climbed normally, the two flight profiles are not very similar.