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Boeing never tested scenarios for AOA sensor malfunctions, sources claim
On April 29, during the annual meeting of the company, Boeing chief executive Dennis Muilenburg told that there was nothing wrong with the design of the 737 MAX anti-stall software and blamed the pilots of the crashed MAX jets for not following the procedures as it was stated in the Boeing's training manuals. But an investigation by CNN revealed the Boeing 737 MAX anti-stall system that was linked to both Lion Air and Ethiopian crashes was never tested by Boeing for malfunctions, although… (airlinerwatch.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
This appears to be a scenario where no one wants to tell the boss the bad news. Boeing has incredible Engineers but the certification procedures from Boeing to FAA are flawed. The FAA doesn't have the manpower or resources to judge and approve every system. Communication failures are the root of many crashes.
Boeing bureaucracy is among the worst. That coupled with the "bottom line" en-peril flyers.
1) "The angle-of-attack (AOA) sensor... was flagged in 216 incident reports to the FAA...About one-fifth of these cases involved Boeing planes."
2) ""Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the NTSB...that the sensor is "a fairly simple external device that can get damaged on a regular basis...That's important because Boeing made the decision to rely on them as single sources for streams of data""
3) ""Peter Lemme, a former Boeing flight-controls engineer...that the plane should have had "a fail-safe design" that "relied on two inputs to make sure that you weren't sensitive to one failure.""
2) ""Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the NTSB...that the sensor is "a fairly simple external device that can get damaged on a regular basis...That's important because Boeing made the decision to rely on them as single sources for streams of data""
3) ""Peter Lemme, a former Boeing flight-controls engineer...that the plane should have had "a fail-safe design" that "relied on two inputs to make sure that you weren't sensitive to one failure.""
Failure modes and effects analysis is an essential part of aerospace engineering and design analysis. That Boeing short circuited this means they ought not be allowed to build aircraft at all. The senior executives of Boeing need to be all fired and given nothing, no bonuses, no golden parachutes, tell them they are luck to have escaped jail time.
They either need to restart production of the 757, or get started on making the 797.
What has happened to Boeing? This company was the gold standard in aviation, now its gold sheen is appallingly tainted.
The FAA used to our every airplane through a grueling certification process, the MAX was rubber stamped through. This airplane, which was a panic-button answer to the A320 NEO was a design of a washed up airframe, stretched well beyond its original design; to serve on small market flights less than two hours origin-destination. It is cramped too short, and now stretched to a point it has undesirable flight characteristics hidden beneath a software designed to mitigate these faults.
Boeing missed a great opportunity to come up with a clean sheet design that would rule the skies for generations. Now they have an airplane that may put them out of business.
The FAA used to our every airplane through a grueling certification process, the MAX was rubber stamped through. This airplane, which was a panic-button answer to the A320 NEO was a design of a washed up airframe, stretched well beyond its original design; to serve on small market flights less than two hours origin-destination. It is cramped too short, and now stretched to a point it has undesirable flight characteristics hidden beneath a software designed to mitigate these faults.
Boeing missed a great opportunity to come up with a clean sheet design that would rule the skies for generations. Now they have an airplane that may put them out of business.
What happened to Boeing? Boeing happened to Boeing. "Small government" republicans slash funding to the FAA, the FAA is unable to perform its duties of regulating airplanes and leaves it up to the airlines. Boeing PROMISES with a wink and a nod (scouts honor) that our plane is totally safe. Meanwhile, capitalism does what it does best when no one is there to oversee it and Boeing cuts corners left and right. These failures aren't surprising, they're not anything new, and they'll keep happening as long as we value "pro-business" deregulation and penny pinching over human lives.
Boeing is too big to fail. They (and the upper mgmt) aren't going anywhere. If public outcry demands a head, they'll find some low level manager who got pressured into signing off on it to fall on their sword.