Such a shame. Ethiopian Airlines is a wonderful carrier with modern planes and friendly, courteous crews. Had a terrific flight with them in Oct. This tragedy has nothing to do with the airline and all to do with Boeing's software.
The government shutdown delayed the approval of the software update for these airplanes. This second tragedy is on Trump and all politicians who obstruct the essential functions of government. Will the NYT please report more extensively on this aspect of this tragedy- it might prevent more irresponsible behavior among politicians.
14
Information is now being released that confirms that the design of the 737 Max and the positioning of the engines resulted in an unstable airplane. Boeing attempted to fix this with a 'software workaround.' Such patch jobs should never be allowed, either the plane is stable or its not released for sale. I would call on the FAA to require that Boeing modify all existing planes to make them stable to the point where the 'software workaround' is no longer needed. Pilots and passengers should not have to depend on buggy software to keep their jet in the air. The fact that the FAA allowed this unstable jet to fly is unconscionable.
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@Bruce1253
This is not in fact accurate. All modern commercial aircraft rely on a variety of systems to help the pilot perceive the expected forces on the stick; this new MCAS is but another variant in a long line of such systems and not per se a concern.
The certification of the system does however rely on the pilot being able to recognize the failure signature (undesired trim change) and de-activate the system in event of a failure; ie this is NOT a fly-by-wire aircraft with the necessary redundancy to take the pilot out of the loop. At least in the Lion Air crash, had the pilots followed the instructions for runaway trim, they would have saved the aircraft. However they had to get to step two of the instructions as step one is apply force to the stick to countermand the automation.
So why did two new aircraft fall from the sky while prior models have an enviable safety record? This does suggest a real problem - here I agree! I suspect the combination of a control system prone to malfunction (data from one sensor only with no cross checking) and the fact that step one above no longer works. Thus a previously extremely rare (but known) emergency scenario now occurs relatively frequently . This is like a new tire prone to blowouts after few thousand miles; a skilled driver 'should' be able to recover from a blowout but most motorists have never experienced even one blowout and mishandle it... Now add in lack of training for the new aircraft behavior...
3
@Stephan
I must disagree. The MCAS system was new, the pilots had no hands on experience with it and did not know what the failure mode would be. Had this happened at 10,000 ft. plus they could have consulted the flight manual, they would have had the time to do. Instead this failure happened right after takeoff. Under these conditions the MACS system was a huge 'concern per se'.
The pilots has seconds to react and had to do it right the first time. It should have never come to that. This jet should not have been flying.
2
Black boxes were recovered from the first crash in October. Apparently “months” is an optimistic view of how long analysis will take. Unless Boeing got the first black boxes from the FAA and still is mulling over what “fix” they should attempt. Beyond a “software update”.
5
Boeing new the danger and did nothing! Actually, no. Instead of calling their engineers, they called trump.
8
Despite criticism of Trump’s comment it is looking more and more that he knew exactly what he was talking about; like so many other things he says it is a rare day when he is given credit for anything, especially by NYT readers.
9
Don't be fooled. The problem is obvious to Boeing and the thousands of people in the aviation field. This "stall prevention" apparatus is killing people. AI intelligence has nothing to do with human intelligence.
3
"The boxes . . . which can withstand temperatures of 2,012 degrees Fahrenheit". Equally, or more, important is their ability to withstand the brutal deceleration of a fast-moving aircraft's collision with the ground.
4
Passengers worried about seat assignments? Almost 200 people died the other day in an airplane crash. The airlines will be trying their best to make passengers feel safe and be safe and people will complain about seating assignments?
That’s a bit much. Give the airlines a break. They’ll be trying to do their best, just like many of us do with our jobs. A different seating assignment for a few hours of your life to make you safe is not the end of the world. The families of those who died know what the end of the world feels like, truly feels like.
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@MIMA Boeing knew about this trouble and should have grounded this fleet itself. No excuse
4
@MIMA My thoughts exactly. Who in their right minds would complain about such a trivial and temporary inconvenience, especially in light of the tragedy that caused it?