This has to be a huge headache for Boeing, 2 identical aircraft in very similar circumstances in a couple of months.
In this case an Ethiopian Airlines 737.
They changed the system designed to prevent stalls, and never trained the pilots on the changes. They sold the planes based on easy transition for current 737 rated pilots, but added this new function. The 737 MAXX is unbalanced, they moved the engine placement on the wings and the centre of gravity changed. I think you will see, when they get the black box data (assuming it is recoverable), that this is identical to the Lion Air crash.
Pilots are just to dependent on these automated systems, but it seems on these aircraft that even if you turn it off it can re-engage and force the nose down if it gets a spurious signal from one angle of attack sensor. Poor buggers didn't stand a chance.
Don't fly on them. Hopefully Virgin Australia will cancel their orders. Boeing is in deep trouble here, the class action law suits alone will be seeking massive compensation for victim families.
Angle of Attack issues is my guess .... ( pitching the nose down in relation to air flow over wings )
Showing incorrect information to computer on board Aircraft.... all hell breaks loose....!!
I'm not saying it is ... but my thoughts go in that direction
Last edited by FlashDrive; 22-03-2019 at 09:49 AM.
Oh it is the AoA...governed in the MAX case by a flawed MCAS system that Boeing didn’t adequately inform, train or certify. Seems Boeing did a shifty quick-one to get the thing certified to compete against the A320 Neo - possibly self-certified!!! Heads gonna roll in Boeing and the FAA. Europe’s EASA refusing to accept Boeing’s info and results. FBI heading the inquiry. Boeing is/was the US’ most prominent exporter and revenue maker - that may change.
China cancelled around 120 units, and Russia cancelled around 140. That’s a LOT OF BIG DOLLARS. Several European airlines cancelled too (Ryanair and potentially Aer Lingus, Iberia, Norwegian, Finnair) It could sink Boeing. Airbus will benefit enormously.
A report here from the ABC reveals the Lion Air pilots were reading the user manual minutes before it crashed.
Every time the pilots tried to make the plane climb, the computer puts it back into a dive.
Just wait for similar situation with cars.. you try to brake and go left and car accelerates and goes to the right... the solution is to disconnect battery while driving...
Nope, it would not be the "Manual" as such but an emergency action checklist set, printed and designed for quick access. The battery cant go flat or the screen get broken by dropping a checklist in the rush to work out what to do.
Wow, some scary stuff in that vid regards the system being capable of erroneously putting the aircraft in a configuration where the pilot is not physically going to be capable of getting the nose up.
The prediction from me would be if it gets to be widely known about it will take people a long time to trust the 737 Max again. I spent a decade in the air force and got vicariously exposed to a lot of investigation type stuff as it was published within the RAAF for info of pilots and ATC type folk and I am relatively unshakable about this stuff, but I would take some convincing to get on a 737 Max!
I know it was a somewhat different situation, but the de Haviland Comets show what a series of crashes can do to a planes reputation and success even when they determine the cause of the problem and fix it.
If the computer is reacting to a faulty sensor, you would think that the plane would have spare sensor the pilots could switch over to.
Don't these planes have redundancy?.
Apparently in this case the computer kept pushing the whole ailerons down because of the faulty sensor so the smaller ones that the pilot control to trim were overwhelmed. The more they tried to go back up the faster the computer brought them back down. Must have been a terrifying experience.
If I picked it up right in that video and the video is correct (I don't have time to rewatch today) there is only one AOA vane associated with the system?
That astounds me, I can not think of any other safety critical system on an aircraft like that that relies on a single sensor with no redundancy! Particularly on a system that can automatically trim the aircraft into a configuration that is physically impossible for the pilots to "Fly around" to keep it in the air while they figure out what to do.
