Safety Is Coming Back? Boeing Completes 737 MAX Software Update

[rainman + 263]

Boeing Co said on Thursday it had completed a software update for its 737 MAX jets, which have been grounded worldwide since March after they were involved in two fatal crashes.The planemaker said it was in the process of submitting a plan on pilot training to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and would work with the regulator to schedule its certification test flight. The FAA is planning a meeting on May 23 in Fort Worth, Texas, with regulators from around the world to update them on reviews of Boeing’s software fix and on pilot training. Aviation regulators from other countries will have to assess Boeing’s proposed fixes and clear the aircraft to fly in other regions independently of the FAA. It is unclear when the 737 MAX aircraft will return to service, but U.S. airlines have said they hope the jets will fly this summer.The FAA said on Thursday that Boeing had not yet submitted its final software package for approval.

[pinto + 293]

Hope the FAA gets the funds to test and approve it.

[Pavel + 384]

Yep. Hope there won't be a software glitch this time round...

[francoba + 93]

So are they looking for volunteers for the first flight? Safer taking a Russian built soyuz from the 1960's space station.  

 

[50 shades of black + 254]

I would like to suggest that CEO and Executive Board, as a first, go on a trip with a "new software"  ...

[ThunderBlade + 231]

Developed the fix, but they haven't flown it on a test bed..Let’s see who wants to fly that plane, definitely not me!

[damirUSBiH + 327]

Good luck to convincing the pilots and passengers...

[Ward Smith + 6,615]

The problem with the 737 was the original design assumed stairways rather than jetways. So the bottom of the plane is only 17" off the ground. When they added the new bigger engines for the Max, they would have dragged on the ground. So they moved the engines further back on the wings, higher up. That of course screwed up the CG (center of gravity) for the plane and it flew very different than its brethren. The original software was intended to keep it from stalling from too high an angle of attack takeoff. If you've ever watched especially Southwest jets take off, they'll go 60 degrees right off the runway. If you do that on the Max, the new CG with the weight of those big engines further back on the plane swings the plane more vertical so it stalls. 

Boeing could have just come out with a directive not to exceed 40 degrees on takeoff. No software needed. But they didn't want to call attention to the change in CG because that might have invited FCC scrutiny and a multi-year delay in sales. Needless to say, it was a miscalculation.