Ethiopian Air Crash - preliminary report.

[Capt Lightning]

As reported on BBC News...
The Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed last month nosedived several times before it hit the ground, a preliminary report has said.
Pilots "repeatedly" followed procedures recommended by Boeing before the crash, according to the first official report into the disaster.
Despite their efforts, pilots "were not able to control the aircraft", Transport Minister Dagmawit Moges said.
Flight ET302 crashed after take-off from Addis Ababa, killing 157 people.
It was the second crash of a Boeing 737 Max aircraft in five months.
Last October, Lion Air flight JT 610 crashed into the sea near Indonesia killing all 189 people on board. In a news conference in Addis Ababa, Ms Dagmawit said: "The crew performed all the procedures repeatedly [that were] provided by the manufacturer but were not able to control the aircraft."
Her comments were based on a preliminary report into the crash, which has not been published yet, but could be released by the end of the week.

 

[oldman]

So, there has been a lot published about the MAX 8 & 9. The last item that I read is that the A.G. may take this issue up as a criminal investigation. Boy, wouldn’t that be something?

Anyway, here’s the deal on these planes from all that I have either been told or read. The Boeing 737 MAX 8 & 9 planes have larger engines. Therefore, the engineers felt that these engines needed to be mounted farther forward on the wings than the engines on the standard 737.

Due to this fact, pilots may think they need to raise the nose higher than normal. Raising the nose higher will cause the engines to slow and the plane may then enter what pilots call, a “stall” situation. (A stall in a plane is not the same as a stall in your car.) So, to offset that problem, the pilots would then suddenly point the nose down causing the engines to speed up. BTW, the technical term for pointing the plane up or down is the “Angle of Attack, or AOA.”

Now, we have the plane fighting two systems against each other. This can cause the plane to maybe start to go on it’s side, or spiral. The pilot will probably be unsure as to what’s going on and try to correct the situation, which could cause the plane’s problem to become even worse. The best thing to do in this situation would be to turn off the MCAS system, which stands for “Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System.” This system is to prevent all of this from happening. The problem is, as I see it, is that the MCAS system is mentioned only once in the operation manual and the pilots have never been trained on using it. To me, this is a huge problem for Boeing.

I hope that I have not confused anyone. At this time, all of these planes have been grounded worldwide. There is a list of the planes that have the MCAS System using their tail numbers and all of the airlines that have these planes in their livery. I will add a link when I get to my desktop computer.

I have been asked by several people as to what will Boeing do about this problem? My answer; I really don’t know. There are billions of dollars at stake with this project, so my best guess would be that they will try to find a fix.

Two weeks ago, I received a phone call from one of the local high schools inviting me to attend their career day for Seniors. That’s high school seniors, not those over 65 years of age. Tomorrow is career day and I plan to attend and give my 10 minute talk about a career in aviation. I have done this for the last 8 years. There is a lot of interest in this field among the students and I find this very exhilarating.

Here is the link to the airlines that have the new MAX 8 & 9 planes with their tail numbers: http://www.airportspotting.com/boei...-located/?mc_cid=73baacd85a&mc_eid=b57232c42c

 

[RadishRose]

Another Boeing 737 incident today-

(Reuters) - A Boeing jetliner with 143 people aboard from the U.S. outpost at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, slid off a runway into a shallow river in Jacksonville, Florida, on Friday while attempting to land at a military base there during a thunderstorm, injuring 21 people.

There were no reports of fatalities or critical injuries. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said on Twitter that all 21 of the injured were taken to a hospital, where they were listed in good condition.

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/b...rida-river-21-hurt/ar-AAASc8F?ocid=spartandhp[SUB][SUP]
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[Capt Lightning]

I read in the news today that Boeing were aware of issues with their 737 Max a year before the first of the two fatal crashes.

The firm said it had inadvertently made an alarm feature optional instead of standard, but insisted that this did not jeopardise flight safety. The feature at issue is known as the Angle of Attack (AOA) Disagree alert and was designed to let pilots know when two different sensors were reporting conflicting data.
The planemaker said it had intended to provide the feature as standard, but did not realise until deliveries had begun that it was only available if airlines purchased an optional indicator. It said it had intended to deal with the problem in a later software update.

 

[oldman]

I don’t have an inside track to Boeing, but I have been reading the continual updates. I’m not convinced that Boeing has settled on a fix for the AOA issue and also that the MCAS is working as intended. However, if anyone can resolve this issue, I have confidence in Boeing that they will bring it to a conclusion.

I flew nothing but Boeing planes for almost 27 of my 34 years of flying. I visited their plants in Seattle and thereabouts and spoke with their engineers. They are good people who I am sure are suffering knowing that their mistake or mistakes may have caused several lives.

For now, I have committed myself to having patience and wait and see how this all ends before coming to any conclusions.