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Before Fatal Lion Air Crash, Boeing’s New Jet Hit Problem in Tests
When Boeing pilots were flight testing the new MAX-8 version of the venerable 737 jet they discovered a problem that made the airplane difficult to handle when its speed dropped to a point where it was in danger of triggering an aerodynamic stall, and a loss of control that could lead to a crash. This is revealed in new reporting by Aviation Week. The report suggests that in order to mitigate the problem Boeing introduced a new system to the flight controls – a system called Maneuvering… (www.thedailybeast.com) 更多...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
Speechless. Even more astounding than Boeings' decision to not disclose this system to pilots is that the aircraft certification branch a FAA apparently concurred.
Could an experienced pilot explain the issues with this? While I understand some of the impacts of the engine location, why have a system to mitigate a stall problem without training the pilots on the system? Is the breakdown with Boeing or the airlines?
You can hardly blame the airlines since Boeing did not tell them that the system existed. Pretty hard to train on something that you do not know exists.
tl;dr is that the minimal ground-engine clearance necessitated mounting the engines even further forward of the wings, causing center of gravity problems in flight tests, which in turn led to the unpublished MCAS system.
Yet another problem precipitated by the shortsighted decision to do a MAX rather than a cleansheet narrowbody a decade ago. That really was a massive strategic blunder on Boeing's part. (Not nearly on the level of the A380 strategic blunder, but it definitely makes the field a lot more balanced, competitively speaking, compared to if Boeing had simply replaced the outdated 737 architecture 10 years ago.)
Yet another problem precipitated by the shortsighted decision to do a MAX rather than a cleansheet narrowbody a decade ago. That really was a massive strategic blunder on Boeing's part. (Not nearly on the level of the A380 strategic blunder, but it definitely makes the field a lot more balanced, competitively speaking, compared to if Boeing had simply replaced the outdated 737 architecture 10 years ago.)
So... Should we blame Southwest Airlines and Ryanair for existing? They are basically the reason why Boeing keeps releasing their hits on 8-track, right?
My understanding is that the augmentation system was designed to operate in an extreme operating environment into which no professional airline crew would allow the aircraft to enter in the first place. Also, it has been reported that the Lion Air aircraft should have been declared not to be airworthy as the reported faults had not been properly addressed so it is not clear at this time what effect the augmentation system may have played in that incident.
Nonetheless, it does no one any good to have a "secret" system on board the aircraft.
Nonetheless, it does no one any good to have a "secret" system on board the aircraft.