EU says Boeing 737 Max won't fly over the Continent just yet: The US can make its own choices over pilot training
- Reference: 1605903987
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/11/20/eu_737_max/
- Source link:
In a decision [1]published on Friday afternoon the EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) announced it would not be adopting [2]the US Federal Aviation Administration’s view that the Max is now safe enough for passenger flights again.
While the US regulator’s decision is conditional on airlines “installing new flight control computer software,” as well as updating display screen software and aircraft manuals, and some pilot retraining - the EU wants to set its own standards in the latter case.
Watchdog signals Boeing 737 Max jets can return to US skies following software upgrade, pilot training [3]READ MORE
“EASA also found that sufficient reason exists to require certain additional actions, deemed necessary to ensure safe operation of the affected aeroplanes, including pilot training,” said the agency in a statement this afternoon.
The agency will start a new consultation period to determine exactly what extra pilot training should be carried out before Maxes can grace EU-controlled skies again.
As chronicled on The Register over the past year, 346 people lost their lives when the 737 Maxes they were flying in crashed. Investigations revealed that a critical software system aboard both airliners called MCAS (Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System), fed data by a single angle-of-attack (AOA) sensor, had functioned in unintended ways that caused both fatal crashes.
MCAS was a software fix for a hardware kludge. Desperate to launch a competing product to Airbus’ A320neo, Boeing decided to hang bigger engines off the 737 design and brand that the 737 Max. Those engines, however, changed its flying characteristics too much for the 737 Max to be grandfathered in under existing safety certificates for the 737 family.
Rather than ask airlines to swallow the cost of extra pilot training, potentially scaring off badly-needed customers, Boeing pressured the FAA into accepting false assurances that the Max could be safely grandfathered into the 737 family with the aid of MCAS.
For now, the six 737 Maxes on the UK register – all operated by TUI Airways, formerly known as Thomson – remain grounded. ®
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[1] https://ad.easa.europa.eu/ad/US-2020-24-02
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/19/boeing_737_max/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/19/boeing_737_max/
[4] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Most of life is a software bodge for a hardware kludge
No, it was a software fix to avoid having it classified as a new airframe requiring pilots be certified on it. It was not a "hardware kludge" in any way.
"No, it was a software fix to avoid having it classified as a new airframe requiring pilots be certified on it. It was not a "hardware kludge" in any way."
the hardware kludge was the bigger engines on the largely existing 1960's airframe.
Which was itself a kludge to get it low enough to the ground to allow it to carry its own airstairs onboard so it could operate from airports that didn't have the infrastructure to handle jets.
So we have bodged software to allow efficient engines on an airframe designed to be able to fly between JFK and LAX if neither of those airports were setup for jets and if the 737 still had onboard stairs.
As should be
And so the world turns
We're gonna need a bigger brown envelope
And a lot of body bags.
Good
see Title
Very wary
Considering the enormous economic interests involved I'd be very wary to fly on this plane.
Boeing's airplanes make up about 10% of the U.S. exports and it was therefore almost inevitable that this plane would be certified by U.S. authorities.
If they hadn't the company would've simply gone down.
Re: Very wary
Like the two aircraft that caused the deaths of 300+ people.
Consumers need to know what aircraft will be used before they book.
i definitely wont intentionally be booking on a 737 max.
By law, airlines should have to state what aircraft the ticket is for and permit passengers a free refund / penalty free cancellation or a rebook on a competitor if there is a change to the advertised aircraft at anytime prior to flight.
Re: Consumers need to know what aircraft will be used before they book.
>I definitely wont intentionally be booking on a 737 max.
So you trust all their other models?
Built by the same company under the same commercial pressures and with the same 'accommodating' regulatory regime ?
Re: Consumers need to know what aircraft will be used before they book.
"So you trust all their other models?"
very true,
When i was younger i couldn't wait to fly on a new airframe, mainly the 777 back then.
I was in no rush to get on a 787 or A380, i'd get on a A350 though or a 737 800.
i actually flew on a 737 800 in 2018 and was concerned both ways it might have been a max and was happy it wasn't.
My fear is that there is too much use of carbon-fibre and composite materials, Airbus actually chose to use different composites than boeing which makes me feel better about their choice. Of course no air frames have been lost due to boeings composite choices just yet, i just don't want to be one of the ones to find out at first hand that the business that made bad decisions about MCAS also made bad decisions about other stuff and i'm no longer about to complain about them in online forums.
Anything pre 787 is ok in my book.
Re: Consumers need to know what aircraft will be used before they book.
Yep.... for over 18 years I’ve flown on a plane at least twice a week. A majority of them were Boeing aircraft.
None were as fucked as the Max, partially because most were designed/built before the current shower of wankers took control.
Won’t ever get on a Max though. Thankfully I’ve a choice of airlines who fly to the destinations I’m now interested in going to, but with the current Covid situation, I won’t be flying anywhere until next year anyway. My view on all this is simple...
OMG, I’ve saved HOW MUCH money this year??
Wow!!
Re: Consumers need to know what aircraft will be used before they book.
'737-Max' was mostly a marketing term to differentiate it from the previous (third) generation 737-NG models. Now that Max has all the appeal of a polished turd other names will be used on airline booking systems.
The 737-Max model that Ryanair are buying is the 737-8200, other designations for variations to the four basic 737-Max aircraft subtypes will be out there once the 4,000+* ordered aircraft start to be delivered, ICAO use codes B37M, B38M, B39M & B3XM good luck spotting them.
* Outstanding orders are down from over 5,000 mostly due to Covid not the crashes.
EASA are not accepting FAA certification
It'll be interesting to to see how long they (and all the other national air safety bodies) take to pass the aircraft and with what requirements.
MCAS was a software fix bodge for a hardware kludge.
FTFY