Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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

Posted by BeauHD on from the connecting-the-dots dept.

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.

10 of 152 comments (clear)

  1. 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: 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.

    3. 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.

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

      Correct!

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

  2. 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

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

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.