A Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft of Air China sits on the tarmac at an airport in Beijing, China March 11, 2019. REUTERS/StringerGrounding a model of aircraft even temporarily is rare — the last time this occurred was six years ago when Boeing 787s were stopped from flying for several months while it developed a fix for onboard batteries.
The number of accidental deaths increased last year to 523, partly due to the Lion Air crash, but safety keeps on advancing. This includes “flight envelope protection”, which means that if a pilot tries to turn the jet too sharply, or push up the nose and risk a catastrophic stall, the software can disobey in some modes.
Its autopilot disengaged in a storm because airspeed sensors were blocked and an inexperienced co-pilot put it into too steep a climb. While the control system warned loudly of the danger, it stalled and fell out of the sky.
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𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐄𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐮. Boeing MAX 737-8 737-9 SecElaineChao SouthwestAir AmericanAir
Flying doesn’t make me fearful. It’s the concern of how Boeing tried to bypass regulations to get this plane in the air faster, and short-cut training for efficiency. It didn’t even deliver a software update after Lion Air crash. Logic won’t overide that.