FAA, Boeing’s 737 Max to face heat in Congress Wednesday as plane-maker outlines software fix

[tacobell fan]

Lawmakers will question U.S. aviation safety officials on Wednesday afternoon about how federal regulators approved the Boeing 737 Max aircraft that has been involved in two fatal crashes in less than five months.

The Senate’s Commerce subcommittee’s hearing, scheduled for 3 p.m. ET, is the first since the U.S. joined dozens of other nations in grounding the planes earlier this month and it is likely to raise questions about a plan for a software fix to the jets that Boeing said it gave the Federal Aviation Administration in January.

A key issue of the hearing will be how much scrutiny regulators gave the new design of the aircraft before signing off on it in March 2017. Investigators in an October crash in Indonesia have indicated pilots were battling an automatic stall prevention system Boeing added to the jets before their debut. That program, known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, repeatedly pushes the nose of the plane down if a sensor on the plane perceives the aircraft is in a stall.

Investigators have said they saw “clear similarities” between that crash and an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 that went down after takeoff on March 10, killing all 157 people on board.

Pilots said they were not aware Boeing had added the system until after the Lion Air crash in October. The FAA did not mandate simulator training and some pilots said they received an iPad training course of about an hour to transition from the older models of the Boeing 737 to the 737 Max.

Boeing has changed the software to give pilots greater control and the FAA expects to have a final version in the coming days, according to a person familiar with the matter. The FAA needs to approve the program before it can be installed on aircraft.

Boeing said it took a test flight with the new software along with the FAA on March 12, the day before the U.S. grounded the planes, and that that flight “demonstrated that the airplane, with the updated software, still meets certification requirements.”

 

Among the changes Boeing has made to the system are the use of two sensors that gauge the angle of attack — the angle of the plane relative to oncoming air — instead of one and limits on how many times the plane’s nose will automatically tilt downward when MCAS is engaged.

The Chicago-based aircraft manufacturer plans to outline and demonstrate the changes to the 737 Max to pilots, airlines, regulators and media on Wednesday.

Acting FAA Administrator Daniel Elwell, the Transportation Department’s Inspector General Calvin Scovel and Robert Sumwalt, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, are scheduled to testify Wednesday.

Lawmakers have increased scrutiny on Boeing and the FAA following the two crashes. Late Tuesday, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure urged the FAA to conduct a third-party review of the 737 Max. Last week, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao called for a formal audit of the plane’s certification.

[r2d2]

చచ్చింది గొరె.. adding fuel to the fire.. there was an emergency landing of a Max8 ( South West ) due to an engine failure immediately after take off at Orlando (MCO )

[tacobell fan]

1 minute ago, r2d2 said:

చచ్చింది గొరె.. adding fuel to the fire.. there was an emergency landing of a Max8 ( South West ) due to an engine failure immediately after take off at Orlando (MCO )

[solman]

hardware lo issue unte software update the ela fix chestuaru ani gola chestunna @AirIndia 

[r2d2]

2 minutes ago, solman said:

hardware lo issue unte software update the ela fix chestuaru ani gola chestunna @AirIndia 

I can fix it ani mana inhouse airlines expert @Android_Halwa @psyc0pk ki brief chesthunte @tacobell fan record chesi whatsapplo pettadu.. just ippude..

[solman]

4 minutes ago, r2d2 said:

I can fix it ani mana inhouse airlines expert @Android_Halwa @psyc0pk ki brief chesthunte @tacobell fan record chesi whatsapplo pettadu.. just ippude..

chesina chestadu lee halwa 

[tacobell fan]

12 minutes ago, solman said:

hardware lo issue unte software update the ela fix chestuaru ani gola chestunna @AirIndia 

issue with automated flight control software ani Boeing vadu cheptunnadu here..

 

The plane has been grounded since mid-March following the deadly accidents where a part of the plane’s flight control system is suspected of causing, at least in part, the crashes that killed all 346 people aboard the jets. 

Boeing believes it has solved issues with the 737 Max automated flight control system known as MCAS by updating the plane’s software, cockpit alerts and pilot training. Last weekend, pilots from five airlines, including American, Southwest and Unitedwere briefed on the software updates and tested them in a flight simulator.

“I think they’ve made the changes that will get these planes back in the air,” said one pilot familiar with the changes.

Pilots and other people familiar with the work say there are four notable changes.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/27/boeing-to-release-a-fix-for-737-max-jets-heres-everything-we-know.html

[solman]

2 minutes ago, tacobell fan said:

issue with automated flight control software ani Boeing vadu cheptunnadu here..

 

The plane has been grounded since mid-March following the deadly accidents where a part of the plane’s flight control system is suspected of causing, at least in part, the crashes that killed all 346 people aboard the jets. 

Boeing believes it has solved issues with the 737 Max automated flight control system known as MCAS by updating the plane’s software, cockpit alerts and pilot training. Last weekend, pilots from five airlines, including American, Southwest and Unitedwere briefed on the software updates and tested them in a flight simulator.

“I think they’ve made the changes that will get these planes back in the air,” said one pilot familiar with the changes.

Pilots and other people familiar with the work say there are four notable changes.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/27/boeing-to-release-a-fix-for-737-max-jets-heres-everything-we-know.html

uncle issue dentlo undho naku telyadu..... ekkada chadiva oka article dantlo okadu  rasadu issue  hardware lo ani.. anduke nenu vesa 

naku flight ekkada vachu kani ee issues fix cheydam radhu lee uncle... please vadelyyi nannu 

[tacobell fan]

40 minutes ago, solman said:

uncle issue dentlo undho naku telyadu..... ekkada chadiva oka article dantlo okadu  rasadu issue  hardware lo ani.. anduke nenu vesa 

naku flight ekkada vachu kani ee issues fix cheydam radhu lee uncle... please vadelyyi nannu 

hehe @solman uncle nenu middle class IT worker ne. Nenu kuda chadivindhi post chesa nenu naa own agenda/analysis post cheyyanu