One key issue is now very clear. Boeing introduced a new safety feature in the 737 Max 8 but failed to include details of this feature in the pilot instruction manual. The feature, named the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), is an automatic anti-stall system that repeatedly pushes the nose of the plane down if the computers believe the aircraft is about to stall. A week after the crash Boeing sent out a Safety Bulletin about MCAS but only after pilots’ unions had publicly criticised Boeing for failing to disclose this new feature to their customers.
During the 11-minute Lion Air flight, the pilots had to counter this nose-down feature by manually aiming the nose up, only for the sequence to be repeated about 5 seconds later. This happened no less than 26 times during the short 11-minute flight. Throughout, the stick shaker, a warning device which vibrates the pilots’ control columns to alert them to the danger of a stall, was vibrating throughout the flight. There were also problems with other instrumentation including errors with the plane’s airspeed indicator and altitude information.
Some, if not all, of these conditions had been apparent on all the aircraft’s recent flights before the accident. On the previous evening’s flight from Bali, the instrument problems were so severe that the authorities now claim the flight was in an “un-airworthy condition” and should have been aborted. Yet the pilots were able to overcome the problems and landed safely in Jakarta. Lion Air engineers then replaced one major part overnight.
The Report criticises Lion Air’s safety culture and the need for all documentation on flights to be correctly completed. As an example, it cites the fact that the paperwork for the doomed flight lists 5 flight attendants as being on board. In fact there were 6.
Although the final report on the crash will not appear until next year, Boeing is clearly concerned about the criticisms of their latest aircraft. These follow the battery problems which grounded all the revolutionary 787 aircraft soon after its introduction some years ago.
Over the last week, Boeing executives have met privately with pilot unions at American and Southwest Airlines, two airlines currently operating the 737 Max 8. A Union spokesman Mike Trevino said this type of “urgent” meeting was the first of its kind ever held directly with Boeing. The meeting was held at the request of Boeing. Said the Airline Pilots Association spokesman –
Yet, he then adds –“They reached out to us, which is what we’ve been looking for . . . They brought their A team. It tells us it is very important to them and they’re ready to make this right.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/f ... 138115002/He said the union did not get a good answer on why the anti-stall system . . . wasn't disclosed to pilots before the crash.
He said the union awaits Boeing's "solutions and fixes.''
American pilots were "deeply disturbed and concerned over the fact that a system that automatically takes over one of the flight controls in the air during a critical time, we weren't even aware that it existed”
He said Boeing has updated the information since the crash so there is more heightened awareness of the system.
"We are now where we should have been before this crash happened”
But pilots had remaining technical questions about sensors, faulty signals and the overall MCAS system.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-46373125
One Indonesian family who lost relatives in the crash has so far launched a lawsuit against Boeing. More are expected to follow. The new 737 Max family is Boeing's fastest-ever selling aircraft with firm orders on its books for 4,783 planes.