re: 737max crashes in Ethiopia. Killing 157

Boeing released this March 11

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For the past several months and in the aftermath of Lion Air Flight 610, Boeing has been developing a flight control software enhancement for the 737 MAX, designed to make an already safe aircraft even safer. This includes updates to the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) flight control law, pilot displays, operation manuals and crew training. The enhanced flight control law incorporates angle of attack (AOA) inputs, limits stabilizer trim commands in response to an erroneous angle of attack reading, and provides a limit to the stabilizer command in order to retain elevator authority.

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So I guess they were just rolling the dice hoping another one didn’t crash while they worked on the software update. Shame on them.

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Sure does seem that way. Although they still maintain that:

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Boeing’s 737 MAX Flight Crew Operations Manual (FCOM) already outlines an existing procedure to safely handle the unlikely event of erroneous data coming from an angle of attack (AOA) sensor. The pilot will always be able to override the flight control law using electric trim or manual trim. In addition, it can be controlled through the use of the existing runaway stabilizer procedure as reinforced in the Operations Manual Bulletin (OMB) issued on Nov. 6, 2018.

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But as you've said earlier, this seems like a bigger problem than just faulty AoA readings and the MCAS system anyway. It'll be interesting to see what information they provide going forward. I think it would behoove them to give the public full transparency at this point.

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So I guess they were just rolling the dice hoping another one didn’t crash while they worked on the software update. Shame on them.

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I would bet all of this comes down to shitty pilots.

My guess, Boeing points this out off the record or has someone else do it for them. Sure, the software will get Boeing into some trouble. But the software is there to make great pilots better, not to make crappy pilots competent. At some point, crappy pilots just can’t continue to fly top of the line planes.

The fact is it will hurt Boeing’s profits too if they come out and say their planes are actually fine it’s just that crappy pilots have issues, because then fewer airlines can buy them.

But that’s what this is most likely to be. A software issue that a competent (hint: doesn’t have to be top gun quality) pilot would be able to overcome.

A crew with one guy having between 200-400 total hours, is not it.