Boeing hid 737Max Flaws

[George K]

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/09/boeing-hid-design-flaws-in-max-jets-from-pilots-and-regulators/

Boeing hid design flaws in its 737 Max jet from both pilots and regulators as it raced to have the airplane certified as fit to fly, according to a damning congressional report into why two of the aircraft crashed within months of each other last year, killing 346 people.

The report by the US House of Representatives transport committee found the US aircraft maker cut corners and pressured regulators to overlook aspects of its new design in its attempts to catch up with European rival Airbus. It also accused US regulators of being too concerned with pleasing the company to exercise proper oversight.

The report said: “[The two crashes] were the horrific culmination of a series of faulty technical assumptions by Boeing’s engineers, a lack of transparency on the part of Boeing’s management, and grossly insufficient oversight by the [Federal Aviation Administration]—the pernicious result of regulatory capture on the part of the FAA with respect to its responsibilities to perform robust oversight of Boeing and to ensure the safety of the flying public.

“The facts laid out in this report document a disturbing pattern of technical miscalculations and troubling management misjudgments made by Boeing. It also illuminates numerous oversight lapses and accountability gaps by the FAA that played a significant role in the 737 Max crashes.”

Boeing has been under multiple investigations since last year, when a Max jet operated by Ethiopian Airlines crashed just five months after another owned by Indonesia’s Lion Air plunged into the sea.

Investigators have found that on both occasions, a faulty sensor caused an automatic anti-stall system to kick in erroneously, forcing the airplane's nose downwards. Pilots for both Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines battled to right their jets but were overridden by the automatic system each time they did so.

Boeing attempted to minimize both the regulatory testing and pilot training required to fly the new Max, which was being rushed out in an attempt to compete with the Airbus A320neo.

It found the company successfully persuaded the FAA not to classify the anti-stall system as “safety critical,” meaning that many pilots did not even know of its existence before flying the Max.

In doing so, Boeing concealed from regulators internal test data showing that if a pilot took longer than 10 seconds to recognize that the system had kicked in erroneously, the consequences would be “catastrophic.”

The report also detailed how an alert, which would have warned pilots of a potential problem with one of their anti-stall sensors, was not working on the vast majority of the Max fleet. It found that the company deliberately concealed this fact from both pilots and regulators as it continued to roll out the new aircraft around the world.

[Doctor Phibes]

Lock 'em up!

[George K]

@Doctor-Phibes said in Boeing hid 737Max Flaws:

Lock 'em up!

Idiots.

[Doctor Phibes]

Jesus.

[Mik]

Not a safety critical system? How could it possibly be considered anything else?

[Jolly]

Sometimes, companies get too big...

[Horace]

@Doctor-Phibes said in Boeing hid 737Max Flaws:

Jesus.

Wow.

[Copper]

Jesus, lock up the idiots!

[Rainman]

So, will Boeing be sued out of existence? That would be at least partial justice. Better if those that signed-off on documents proven to be "look the other way" could be sued and jailed.
But, Boeing will be fined or something, there will be some way out.

[Copper]

Someone has to make airplanes.

[Mik]

Yeah, sued out of existence is not a good solution. Lots of folks out of work and no industry to absorb them domestically.

Maybe Elon Musk would like to build planes?

[Doctor Phibes]

@Mik said in Boeing hid 737Max Flaws:

Maybe Elon Musk would like to build planes

Mr. Safety, you mean?