Really all just a game to humor the FAA and Boeing towards something a little less deadly?

The British Airline Pilots' Association (BALPA) has told American aviation regulators that the Boeing 737 Max needs better fixes for its infamous MCAS software, warning that a plane crash which killed 149 people could happen again...

... The NPRM, published here, proposes various fixes to the 737 Max design, its software and procedures for pilots to follow in the event of a problem. One of those procedures includes disabling the airliner's automatic trim system, operated by MCAS when the software kicks in, and having the two pilots use a manual backup trim wheel instead of the aircraft's powerful electric motors.

BALPA said: "Requiring both crew members to turn the trim wheel simultaneously in a non-normal scenario is extremely undesirable and goes against all philosophies...

... Bootnote

The 737 Max will be known as the 737-7, 737-8 and 737-9. In Ryanair's case it will be known as the 737-8200...

International Air Transport Association aeroplane type codes will be B37M, B38M and B39M should you want to avoid booking a flight on one.

Pilot unions and families of those killed in a crash of Boeing’s 737 MAX are asking for revisions to proposed new training for the grounded jetliner.

The Federal Aviation Administration’s proposed new training module and emergency checklists for the MAX are “clunky at best” and should be streamlined, the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association said in comments filed with the FAA before Monday’s deadline.

A group of dozens of family members and friends of the 157 people who died on an Ethiopian Airlines crash on March 10, 2019, go further, seeking additional design changes and publication of a more detailed training outline.

“The FAA’s proposed update to the 737 Max pilot training requirements is inadequate to rectify Boeing’s history of 737 Max-related failures and insufficient to prepare pilots to safely fly the airplane,” the family group said in its comments, also posted on Monday...

Europe’s top aviation regulator said he’s satisfied that changes to Boeing’s 737 Max have made the plane safe enough to return to the region’s skies before 2020 is out, even as a further upgrade his agency demanded won’t be ready for up to two years...

... Ky said the synthetic sensor would simplify the job of pilots when one or both of the mechanical angle-of-attack sensors on the Max fails. The device, which monitors whether a plane is pointed up or down relative to the oncoming air, malfunctioned in both crashes — the first off the coast of Indonesia in October 2018 and the second one, five months later, in Ethiopia. ... “We think that it is overall a good development which will increase the level of safety,” Ky said. [BUT] “It’s not available now..."

WASHINGTON/SEATTLE (Reuters) - Boeing Co won approval on Wednesday from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to fly its 737 MAX jet again after two fatal crashes that triggered two years of regulatory scrutiny and corporate upheaval.

“We have implemented a series of meaningful changes to strengthen the safety practices and culture of our company,” Dave Calhoun told employees in a letter.

• You have a sudden death situation.
  
• Your only chance for recovery is to remember and act upon at least EIGHT memory items, in sequence, no conferring;
  
• Meanwhile #1: You may feel a reduction in gravity and butterflies in your stomach, and an Arnold Schwarzenegger gut wrenching pull on the control column;
  
• Meanwhile #2: You must flawlessly complete your memory mission, without error or fail, first time successfully, whilst simultaneously suffering: multiple flashing lights; a loud and strong trembling vibration of the control stick vibrator stall alarm for flying too slowly; and a loud klaxon in your ears for flying far too fast indicating the aircraft is breaking apart (all confusingly contradictory and all at the same time);
  
• Meanwhile #3: Other emergency announcements will be loudly given to further try to get you to fumble your memory sequence;
  
• Meanwhile #4: You have only miserably few seconds to successfully complete your task;
  
• Meanwhile #5: Up to 210 lives singularly depend upon you for their lives, you only have the one chance;
  
• Good luck and Valhalla awaits you.
  

What could possibly go wrong?

All in our deadly greedy world...

Stay safe!
Martin

Mr Pierson says he told the head of the 737 programme, Scott Campbell, that he had seen operations in the military shut down over less substantial safety issues.
“The military isn’t a profit-making organisation,” Mr Campbell allegedly replied.

Says it all really!

Mr Pierson says he told the head of the 737 programme, Scott Campbell, that he had seen operations in the military shut down over less substantial safety issues.
“The military isn’t a profit-making organisation,” Mr Campbell allegedly replied.

$$$-Russian Roulette-$$$

The tale of the Pinto is burned deep into American pop culture at this point: Company builds car, car has terrible problem, company ignores it, people die. It's a bit more complicated than that, though.

I bet the Boeing board are praying that the coronavirus vaccines are highly effective, if not...

I bet the Boeing board are praying that the coronavirus vaccines are highly effective, if not...

They won't put seats in and just cargo rails.

I bet the Boeing board are praying that the coronavirus vaccines are highly effective, if not...

They won't put seats in and just cargo rails.

More like, not doing any internal fitting, as the airlines want delivery delayed.

DALLAS (Reuters) - Boeing Co’s 737 MAX staged its first post-grounding flight with media on board on Wednesday, as carriers seek to demonstrate to passengers that the redesigned jet is safe after a 20-month safety ban.

In another display of confidence, European budget airline Ryanair was set to place a hefty order for up to 75 additional 737 MAX jets, industry sources said.

Wednesday’s American Airlines 737 MAX flight was a 45-minute hop from Dallas, Texas, to Tulsa, Oklahoma. It comes weeks before the first commercial passenger flight on Dec. 29, and is part of a public relations effort to allay any concerns about the aircraft.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Commercial flights with Boeing 737 Max jetliners resumed Wednesday for the first time since they were grounded worldwide following two deadly accidents nearly two years ago.
Brazil’s Gol Airlines became the first in the world to return the planes to its active fleet, using a 737 MAX 8 on a flight from Sao Paulo to Porto Alegre, according to flightradar24.com.

Autothrottle [uncommanded] cuts [engines] to idle and flight computers fail after latest updates, warns FAA

Software updates to Boeing's Jumbo Jet, Dreamliner, and 777 introduced flaws that degraded flight safety and caused the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to publish warnings to aviators.

Recent updates to the Boeing 777 and 787 autothrottle have changed how the safety-critical systems operated, prompting a warning from the FAA to airlines...

... With questions hanging over Boeing's software development practices ever since the crashes of two 737 Max airliners that killed nearly 350 people, the latest two SAIBs from the FAA will leave members of the public raising their eyebrows...

... In this case, it was poor design, poor training and/or unintended consequences.

Boeing added a feature which on touch-down disables the Go-Around button - and this worked exactly as designed. However the pilots expected (not unreasonably) that pressing the Go-Around button will make the plane perform a Go-Around, just like they've practiced dozens of times in the simulator.

In this case, although the thrust was unexpectedly cancelled [by the new software bug], the pilots were still able to lift the nose and retract the undercarriage. 12 seconds later they realised the problem and manually applied thrust - but it was too late.