Submitted via IRC for Bytram
Review of 737 Max Certification Finds Fault With Boeing and F.A.A.
A breakdown in the nation's regulatory system and poor communication from Boeing compromised the safety of the 737 Max jet before it crashed twice in five months and killed 346 people, according to a damning report released Friday.
Boeing did not adequately explain to federal regulators how a crucial new system on the plane worked, the report says. That system was found to have played a role in the accidents in Indonesia last October and Ethiopia in March.
[...] "This report confirms our very worst fears about a broken system," Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, said in an interview. "To put the fox in charge of the henhouse never made any sense, and now we see the deeply tragic consequences."
Hours after the report was released, Boeing's board stripped the company's chief executive, Dennis A. Muilenburg, of his chairman title. The move was the most direct response yet from a board that has resisted shaking up the management team before the Max is flying again, even as pressure mounted inside Boeing to hold someone accountable. The Max has been grounded for more than seven months.
[...] Friday's report, which was put together by representatives of the Federal Aviation Administration, NASA and nine international regulators, provided the first official detailed account of how federal regulators certified the Max. Lawmakers and federal investigators are still conducting their own inquiries into the design and approval of the jet.
Related Stories
https://www.npr.org/2019/12/17/788775642/boeing-will-temporarily-stop-making-its-737-max-jetliners
Production will stop in January. The jets were grounded after two crashes that killed nearly 350 people. Despite being grounded, Boeing continued cranking the planes out at its factory near Seattle.
(The interview had more good information, but at time of submission, the transcript wasn't available. There may be better articles out there.)
There are. Here's one:
Boeing will suspend 737 Max production in January at CNBC:
Boeing is planning to suspend production of its beleaguered 737 Max planes next month, the company said Monday, a drastic step after the Federal Aviation Administration said its review of the planes would continue into next year, dashing the manufacturer's forecast.
Boeing's decision to temporarily shut down production, made after months of a cash-draining global grounding of its best-selling aircraft, worsens one of the most severe crises in the history of the century-old manufacturer. It is ramping up pressure on CEO Dennis Muilenburg, whom the board stripped of his chairmanship in October as the crisis wore on.
The measure is set to ripple through the aerospace giant's supply chain and broader economy. It also presents further problems for airlines, which have lost hundreds of millions of dollars and canceled thousands of flights without the fuel-efficient planes in their fleets.
Boeing said it does not plan to lay off or furlough workers at the Renton, Washington, factory where the 737 Max is produced during the production pause. Some of the 12,000 workers there will be temporarily reassigned.
Previously:
Boeing's 737 Max Troubles Deepen, Taking Airlines, Suppliers With It
Review of 737 Max Certification Finds Fault With Boeing and F.A.A.
American Airlines Says It Will Resume Flights With Boeing’s 737 Max Jets in January
AP Sources: Boeing Changing 737 Max Software to Use 2 Computers
Boeing Falsified Records for 787 Jet Sold to Air Canada
Boeing Pledges $100M to Families of 737 Max Crash Victims
Capt. 'Sully' Sullenberger and Boeing 737 Max News
Boeing’s Own Test Pilots Lacked Key Details Of 737 Max Flight-Control System
Boeing CEO Defends 737 Max Flight Control System
Analysis: Why FAA-Approved Emergency Procedures Failed to Save ET302
Initial Findings Put Boeing's Software at Center of Ethiopian 737 Crash
Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 Max Flight Makes Emergency Landing (While Carrying No Passengers)
Airline Cancels $4.9 Billion Boeing 737 MAX Order; Doomed Planes Lacked Optional Safety Features
Pilot Who Hitched a Ride Saved Lion Air 737 Day Before Deadly Crash
DoJ Issues Subpoenas in 737 Max Investigation
Boeing 737 Max Aircraft Grounded in the U.S. and Dozens of Other Countries
Second 737 MAX8 Airplane Crash Reinforces Speculation on Flying System Problems
Boeing's promised 737 Max production halt begins:
The airline manufacturer had announced last month it would stop making the troubled craft at least until it was no longer grounded, but hadn't set a date. However the line has officially stopped producing planes while Boeing officials wait for regulators to give it the OK to fly again.
[...] The latest update estimated the grounding would last through at least mid-2020, Boeing said in a statement Tuesday.
Boeing will reassign 3,000 workers after 737 MAX production halt
Boeing Co said it will reassign 3,000 workers to other jobs as it halts production of the grounded best-selling 737 MAX jet in mid-January.
The announcement came after American Airlines Group Inc and Mexico's Aeromexico disclosed they were the latest carriers to reach settlements with Boeing over losses resulting from the grounding of the 737 MAX aircraft.
Neither airline disclosed the compensation. A number of airlines have struck confidential settlements with Boeing in recent weeks. Boeing said it does not comment on discussions with airlines.
Boeing's biggest supplier lays off 2,800 workers because of 737 Max production suspension:
Spirit AeroSystems (SPR), which makes fuselages for the Max as well as other items for Boeing, announced Friday that it is furloughing approximately 2,800 workers. Shares of the Wichita, Kansas-based company fell more than 1% in trading.
"The difficult decision announced today is a necessary step given the uncertainty related to both the timing for resuming 737 Max production and the overall production levels that can be expected following the production suspension," Spirit AeroSystems CEO Tom Gentile said in a press release.
Boeing wants to resume 737 Max production months before regulators sign off on the planes:
(Score: 3, Interesting) by fustakrakich on Sunday October 13 2019, @02:12AM (5 children)
And nobody goes to jail, not even house arrest... nothing.
One thing we know, the taxpayers will cover all their "losses", and bonuses to this guy who was just "demoted".
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 13 2019, @02:37AM (2 children)
Who is willing to crowdsource the costs of giving those 346 souls and their families peace by tracking the complete chain of negligence and purging them from our collective genepool and letting them act as a grim warning to future amoral and apathetic assholes that not all consequences come from the government, especially when the government is negligent in their duties.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday October 13 2019, @03:18AM (1 child)
While I might agree with the sentiment of your post - if you think crowd sourcing such activities will escape legal notice, you're a complete idiot. One sole sponsor, maybe. Or a very small clique of sponsors, maybe. Crowd sourcing? I can see it now.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday October 14 2019, @03:13PM
My first thought, wasn't assassination, but maybe I'm just a bit too nice to notice what they were referring to.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 4, Insightful) by edIII on Sunday October 13 2019, @04:59AM (1 child)
It's not like "stripped of his title" means a damn thing either. Golden parachutes and ridiculous compensation packages means it's nothing like getting fired from a minimum wage job with an average 2 weeks or less savings. Fully translated it means, "Go enjoy your money and privilege more with those hours you use to be working".
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 13 2019, @01:41PM
You've got to wonder if the guy even flies. Probably a banker from NYC. God knows we need more of them building aircraft, running nuclear power plants, controlling the national food supply. etc. etc.
This what corporate personhood gets you.
--97% of the voting public votes for one half of a two man con.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 13 2019, @01:33PM (2 children)
I am willing to say that I don't want to fly on an aircraft that is only stable because of a computer. I read a technical article about this bird. The problem is that the engine nacelle design acts like a slat in high angle of attack situations making takeoff squirrely . The nose-down problem is due to the computer overcompenstated while correcting for that instability. Flight stability should not be dependent on a computer, period. This is not the correct way to build aircraft. The military does it yes. But the fly a tiny fraction of the hours that commercial carriers do, and still loose aircraft periodically to technical faults.
They did this so they could use the same type certification as the other 737's when building the aircraft. It is a cost thing for short haul carriers. (Southwest for example) Without the computer it doesn't fly like a 737, so it isn't a fucking 737. Really the FAA should type certificate the aircraft differently. It doesn't matter whose to blame. Do the fucking job correctly, don't mae culpa and then leave a giant turd in the commercial fleet.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 13 2019, @05:09PM
the idea, development and implementation of MCAS was most certainly done on windows computers. one could call it a off-spring ^_^
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @12:52AM
Yeh, it Emulates a 737.
Computers have been used to emulate things for many years.
However doing it in real-time can be tricky, as well as accurately modeling the real-world device.
These things invariably work better in the board room than in the field.