Boeing presents the redesign of the 737 Max software



[ad_1]

According to Mike Sinnett, Boeing, Boeing pilots badyzed scenarios on a live flight simulator in a conference room where the regulators and some 200 airline airline pilots were. Vice President for Product Strategy. Guests were able to request test simulations.

"We are working with customers and regulators around the world to restore confidence in our industry and reaffirm our commitment to safety and to win the confidence of the traveling public," said Sinnett. "The thoroughness and thoroughness of the design and testing of the MAX allows us to believe that the changes will address these accidents."

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said on Wednesday that she found "very dubious" that security systems are not part of the standard package proposed by Boeing for its 737 Max.

"It's very doubtful that it's safety-oriented additions and why they were not part of the model of measures required for an aircraft," she said at the time of the meeting. She testified before the Senate, where she appeared to answer questions about her annual budget request. .

But Chao defended the Federal Aviation Administration's decision not to anchor Boeing's signature aircraft after the first of two fatal accidents.

"The FAA is a very professional organization, based on facts, and it does not make hasty decisions," she said.

The aviation authorities consider the software as one of the main factors of the Lion Air crash last October. Investigators found similarities between the flight data from this accident and those of Ethiopian Airlines earlier this month, which killed 157 people.

On Wednesday, a Boeing official resisted a radical change in all of his processes.

"If you look at the performance of the system, it would indicate that we continue to learn and improve better and better over time, and so now, I would be very careful to charge any part of this process up to the point. what we know more about the details of these accidents, "said the manager at CNN.

The official said that the company had conducted several "in-depth audits" since the Lion Air crash and that it "found" nothing about us. "

"These reviews are continuing and I'm sure they will continue for a while, but we have not found anything yet," said the manager.

The official stopped before saying that the update unveiled on Wednesday indicated that the original software was inadequate.

"This is a conclusion that can only be drawn by the authorities in charge of the investigation.What we are saying is that we have found a way to make it more robust and that we bring this change now, "said the manager.

The software update will affect the software known as the Maneuver Feature Enhancement System (MCAS), which is designed to automatically control a ground plane if it detects an imminent stall.

The most important change made to the MCAS software in the update is the addition of data from a second Angle of Attack (AOA) sensor, which measures the horizontal tilt of the camera. plane. During its first iteration, the software only extracted data from an AOA sensor.

The Boeing official on Wednesday defended the original use of a single sensor, in accordance with practices in force for 50 years.

Indonesian investigators said that erroneous data from this sensor had caused the MCAS system to repeatedly repel the flight of Lion Air to the ocean, during a battle against pilots who had attempted to straighten the plane.

Boeing also said on Wednesday that it would make an alert that would show if both AOA sensors were contradicting each other on the 737 MAX standard. It had been included only as an option in the original model.

Sinnett called the alert, known as the AOA flag disagree, "additional information that is not required by crew procedures or by alerts to operate the aircraft" .

The software has also been modified so as not to repeat the descent cycle in case of abnormal AOA reading and no longer produce an angle impossible to counteract manually by a pilot.

Ethiopian Airlines is a symbol of national pride. Now a disaster has put him under surveillance

The aircraft manual, which did not originally explain the MCAS software, was revised after the Lion Air flight and additional information will be added to the view of the aircraft. 39, the whole system update, said Sinnett.

Boeing's software developers developed the system update after extensive technical badysis, design, and verification, said another Boeing official. They first submitted a draft certification plan for the FAA update on January 21st.

Boeing is expected to submit the latest compliance documents for the update to regulators later this week.

Boeing's pilots have worked with the company's software design team throughout its production to incorporate multiple layers of protection in case of sensor error or other erroneous input. Boeing flew a technical verification flight in February and a certification flight with the FAA on March 12, two days after the crash of Ethiopian Airlines.

Boeing has only launched the software update now, after the second crash, because "we wanted to do things right," said Boeing's chief executive on Wednesday.

The aircraft's software updates will take about an hour and pilots will have to follow a new, more rigorous computer-based training before they can fly the plane, Sinnett said.

The initial training on the 737 MAX consisted of a short, self-administered online course that made no mention of the new MCAS system and how to disable it in a situation similar to that of Lion Air pilots and possibly Ethiopian flights. Airlines, confronted – provoking outrage from some pilot unions after collisions.

The decision to return hundreds of 737 MAX aircraft currently stranded worldwide as a result of the crash of Ethiopian Airlines earlier this month will be left to the discretion of the aviation regulators of each country.

"Boeing is clearly committed to making the 737 MAX 8 safe again," said David Soucie, a former FAA safety inspector and badyst at CNN.

"Although he does not answer all the questions about why he was not treated before it was put into service," he said about the MCAS software, "I think the new software-upgraded backups, coupled with additional training, will provide sufficient badurance to the regulators to put the fleet back into service. "

Greg Wallace of CNN contributed to this report.

[ad_2]
Source link