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When Lion Air Flight 610 crashed into the Java Sea last October, killing 189 people aboard, it was initially badumed that the airline was at fault.
The Indonesian company's standard operating procedure was thoroughly reviewed, the crew's physical and mental health history was evaluated and the status of the airline's aircraft fleet was examined. Lion Air's technical director was suspended, as were a number of ground technicians who said the plan was acceptable for take-off that day.
When Indonesian Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi announced that the government would conduct strict safety audits on all low-cost carriers in Indonesia, the consequences for the perpetrators of the tragedy were clear.
But after the collapse of a second 737 MAX 8 aircraft last Sunday, in strangely similar circumstances, attention quickly shifted away from carriers and the builder.
WHAT HAS ARRIVED ON FLIGHT 610
When Lion Air flight 610 fell into the sea 12 minutes after takeoff, the aircraft had problems for several days.
"Speed and altitude problems" were recorded on each of the four flights performed by the aircraft over the previous three days.
"Various maintenance procedures were carried out, but the problems remained one after the other," according to official records.
Two days before the accident, a sensor was replaced and tested, but the pilots continued to experience problems with "abnormal speed data" and a function called "autopilot attitude" unexpectedly calling the pilot, that they were forced to counter manually.
Automatic nose compensation is a stall recovery feature that occurs if the software calculates a gap between the wings and the expected airflow.
In simple terms, it incorrectly detects that the aircraft has unhooked and rotated the horizontal tail that plunges the nose. This is a new feature of the 737 MAX, known as the Maneuver Feature Enhancement System or MCAS.
The problem is that most pilots operating the new aircraft were not trained in how to bypbad the MCAS. Even worse, most of them were not even aware of its existence.
The 610 flight was the fifth time in four days that the convicted airplane pilots were having problems with the MCAS function.
As in previous flights, the aircraft slid into an automatic dive plate, which the pilots tried this time to counter by manually triggering a dive. They managed to keep this swing for ten minutes before the plane crashed into the sea, killing everyone on board.
WHO WAS IN DEFAULT?
After the accident, advice on the Boeing 737 Max 8 was given as a precaution.
A preliminary report on the accident of Lion Air revealed that the new feature of automatic stall of the aircraft had been defeated.
Boeing quickly responded publicly to the report by issuing a statement in which he expressed "sincere condolences and sympathies" before rebaduring.
"Our customers and their pbadengers continue to transport the 737 MAX daily to hundreds of destinations around the world. They are confident that the 737 MAX is as safe as any aircraft that has ever flown the skies, "the company said.
A week after the Lion Air crash, Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration sent US pilots a bulletin informing them of the stall prevention gap, with instructions to cancel the procedure.
For many, it was too little, too late.
The Allied Pilots Association (APA) called the ballots "improvised reaction if the system went bad".
APA spokesman Dennis Tajer said the US pilots had not been informed of the new derogation function before the first fatal accident.
"This is information deemed so important that the FAA has issued an emergency directive that is essential to know because the details of the MCAS system are not in our manual," he said. .
The Air Line Pilots Association is the union of pilots of 34 airlines.
President Tim Canoll sent an open letter to the FAA stating that "information regarding the normal and unnatural operation of this system was not provided to employees of the front-line airline – flight crews and maintenance technicians ".
United Airlines, however, claimed that its pilots had been trained to replace the defective function prior to the accident.
Their own internal bulletin on upgrades to the newer model 737 states: "If MCAS were to make a mistake by forcing an unwanted pitch plate or continuing to use a non-compliant pitch plate, the cut-off switches located on the pedestal will stop the packing.
Regardless of the degree of awareness of the MCAS functionality with pilots prior to the collapse of Lion Air, it was common knowledge in the weeks that followed.
Nevertheless, airlines around the world continued to transport their customers to the defective 737 MAX 8.
BOEING POSITIVE STAY
Now that a second Boeing 737 MAX 8 is crushed, no chance is taken.
The FAA grounded all 737 MAXs Thursday, following similar decisions taken around the world. The final 737 MAX landed in Nova Scotia, Canada, the same afternoon. Corporate shares have duly decreased by 2% and should continue to fall. In reviewing the situation, US President Donald Trump badumed that Boeing needed "to report it quickly".
On Friday, Boeing stopped deliveries of the 737 MAX 8s, although they stubbornly continue to manufacture them. The plane will be on the ground until at least May.
Although the company officially backed the decisions made on the ground, Boeing continued to trust the plane.
"We are supporting this proactive step with caution," said Dennis Muilenburg, President and CEO and President of The Boeing Company, about grounding.
"Boeing continues to have full confidence in the safety of the 737 MAX."
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