Boeing's 737 Max: 1960's design, power and paper manuals from the 1990s



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A second electronic system present on other Boeing aircraft also alerts pilots of unusual or dangerous situations in flight and indicates the recommended steps to resolve them.

On the 737s, a LED usually indicates the problem and drivers need to go through their paper manuals to determine the next steps. In the convicted flight to Indonesia, while the Lion Air pilots were fighting MCAS for control, they consulted the manual moments before the Jet took off in the Java Sea, killing the 189 people on board.

"In the meantime, I'm flying the jet," said Mr. Tajer, captain of American Airlines 737. "Versus, pop, he's on your screen, he's telling you, that's the problem, and here's the list of control that is recommended. "

Boeing decided not to add it to the Max as this could have prompted regulators to require new driver training, according to two former Boeing employees involved in the decision.

The Max also works on a complex web of cables and pulleys that, when pilots pull the controls back, transfer that motion to the tail. In comparison, Airbus jet aircraft and Boeing's more modern aircraft, such as the 777 and 787, are "flying", which means that pilots' flight commands are transmitted to a computer that directs them. . The design allows for much more automation, including systems preventing the jet from entering hazardous situations, such as flights that are too fast or too weak. Some 737 pilots said they preferred the system of cables and pulleys to the electrical flight system because they thought it gave them more control.

In recent accidents, the investigators felt that the MCAS had malfunctioned and moved a rear flap called stabilizer, tilting the plane to the ground. On the condemned flight of Ethiopian Airlines, the pilots attempted to fight the system by cutting off the stabilizer's engine power, according to the preliminary crash report.

Once the power was off, the pilots attempted to regain control manually by turning a wheel beside their seat. The 737 is Boeing's latest modern aircraft to use a spare wheel as a back-up. But Boeing has long known that it is difficult to run the wheel at high speed and that it may have taken two pilots to work together.

In the last moments of the flight Ethiopia Airlines, the first officer said that the method did not work, according to the preliminary report of accident. About 1 minute and 49 seconds later, the plane crashed, killing 157 people.

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