Max jet software

Tech boeng software. US-based airplane manufacturer Boeing officially took responsibility for the two crashes of their new Max jets on 4 April this year in an attempt to get the planes approved to fly again after they were grounded by officials in multiple countries around the world. The scandal was thrust into the public eye on 10 March when Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa Ethiopia to Nairobi Kenya crashed soon after take-off, killing all people on board just months after a Lion Air flight of the same model crashed after taking off from Jakarta Indonesia , killing all passengers.

Trump has taken a keen interest in the saga, lobbying for the planes to remain in the air, and the US was one of the last countries to ground the Max despite the obvious safety concerns involved. But the real scandal here may not be the software bug at all but the rivalry that may have allegedly spurred Boeing to cut corners when developing the Max. In , Airbus announced an update to the A, their most popular single-aisle aircraft which services many domestic flights in the US.

This posed a problem for Boeing which moved to upgrade the engine on their own single aisle plane — the — in order to compete with Airbus. When the MCAS detects the plane climbing too steeply without enough speed—a recipe for a stall—it moves the yoke forward, using the horizontal stabilizer on the tail to bring the nose of the plane down.

The MAX was climbing normally, but due to a faulty sensor the digital flight data recorder detected a hard-to-believe degree difference in the angle of attack between the left and right sides.

Ultimately, the plane crashed into the Java Sea, killing everyone aboard. Like most modern plane crashes, the Lion Air one was born of multiple problems. Just after takeoff, the pilot radioed a distress call and was given immediate clearance to return and land.

But before the crew could make it back, the aircraft crashed 40 miles from the airport, six minutes after it left the runway. Aboard were passengers and eight crew members. The aircraft involved was only four months old. The Max 9, shown here at the Paris Air Show, is a larger version of the Max 8, but with the same piloting system that's under investigation. Planes crashes rarely have a single cause, which is the case here.

On Oct. The report identifies nine factors that contributed to the crash, but largely blames MCAS. Before crashing, the Lion Air pilots were unable to determine their true airspeed and altitude and they struggled to take control of the plane as it oscillated for about 10 minutes.

Each time they pulled up from a dive, MCAS pushed the nose down again. Investigators also found that MCAS relied on only one sensor, which had a fault, and flight crews hadn't been adequately trained to use the system.

Improper maintenance procedures, confusion in the cockpit and the lack of a cockpit warning light see next question contributed to the crash, as well. On March 9, , almost one year to the day since the crash in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau published an interim analysis. Like the Indonesian findings, it cites design flaws with MCAS such its reliance on a single angle-of-attack sensor. It also blamed Boeing for providing inadequate training to crew on using the Max's unique systems.

The Seattle Times has a great deep dive on the report. Unlike their Indonesian counterparts, the Ethiopian investigators do not mention maintenance problems with the plane nor does it blame the flight crew.

Remember that crash investigations are tremendously complex -- it takes months to evaluate the evidence and determine a probable cause. Investigators must examine the debris, study the flight recorders and, if possible, check the victims' bodies to determine the cause of death. They also involve multiple parties including the airline, the airplane and engine manufacturers, and aviation regulatory agencies. Built to compete with the Airbus Aneo , the Max is a family of commercial aircraft that consists of four models.

The Max 8, which is the most popular version, made its first flight on Jan. Malindo no longer flew the plane by the time of the first crash. Seating between and passengers, depending on the configuration, it's designed for short- and medium-haul routes, but also has the range 3, nautical miles, or about 4, miles to fly transatlantic and between the mainland US and Hawaii. The design of the Max series is based on the Boeing , an aircraft series that has been in service since As a whole, the family is the best-selling airliner in history.

At any given time, thousands of some version of it are airborne around the world and some airlines, like Southwest and Ryanair, have all fleets. If you've flown even occasionally, you've most likely flown on a The Max can fly farther and carry more people than the previous generation of s , like the and It also has improved aerodynamics and a redesigned cabin interior and flies on bigger, more powerful and more efficient CFM LEAP engines.

Those engines, though, required Boeing to make critical design changes. Because they're bigger, and because the sits so low to the ground a deliberate design choice to let it serve small airports with limited ground equipment , Boeing moved the engines slightly forward and raised them higher under the wing. If you place an engine too close to the ground, it can suck in debris while the plane is taxiing.

That change allowed Boeing to accommodate the engines without completely redesigning the fuselage -- a fuselage that hasn't changed much in 50 years. But the new position of the engines changed how the aircraft handled in the air, creating the potential for the nose to pitch up during flight. A pitched nose is a problem in flight -- raise it too high and an aircraft can stall.

When a sensor on the fuselage detects that the nose is too high, MCAS automatically pushes the nose down. Compared with previous versions of the , the Max's engines sit farther forward and higher up on the underwing pylons. About 30 airlines operated the Max by the time of the second crash the three largest customers being Southwest Airlines, American Airlines and Air Canada.

Most of them quickly grounded their planes a few days later. More than 40 countries also banned the Max from flying in their airspace. China a huge Boeing customer and a fast-growing commercial aviation market led the way and was joined by Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, India, Oman, the European Union and Singapore.

Canada initially hesitated, but soon reversed course. Up until March 13, , the FAA also declined to issue a grounding order, saying in a statement tweeted the previous day that there was "no basis to order grounding the aircraft. But following President Trump's decision to ground the Max that day, the agency cited new evidence it had collected and analyzed. Older models , like the , and , don't use MCAS and weren't affected.

The Air Current reported March 12, that the Lion Air plane lacked a warning light designed to alert pilots to the faulty sensor and that Boeing sold the light as part of an optional package of equipment. Airplanes are delivered with a baseline configuration, which includes a standard set of flight deck displays and alerts, crew procedures and training materials that meet industry safety norms and most customer requirements.

Customers may choose additional options, such as alerts and indications, to customize their airplanes to support their individual operations or requirements. But on April 29, , The Wall Street Journal said that even for airlines that had ordered it, the warning light wasn't operating on some Max planes that had been delivered a fact the Indonesian accident report confirmed.

Then on June 7, , Reps. Peter DeFazio, a Democrat from Oregon, and Rick Larsen, a Democrat from Washington, said they'd obtained information suggesting that even though the plane maker knew the safety alert wasn't working, it decided to wait until to implement a fix. We fell short in the implementation of the AoA Disagree alert and are taking steps to address these issues so they do not occur again.

Not much, which was a factor cited in both crash reports. As the Indonesian report said, "The absence of guidance on MCAS or more detailed use of trim in the flight manuals and in flight crew training, made it more difficult for flight crews to properly respond.