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posted by martyb on Monday July 19 2021, @02:19PM   Printer-friendly
from the Gasping-for-air dept.

FAA orders checks on 9,300 Boeing 737 planes for possible switch failures:

WASHINGTON, July 15 (Reuters) - The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Thursday issued a directive to operators of all Boeing Co (BA.N) 737 series airplanes to conduct inspections to address possible failures of cabin altitude pressure switches.

The directive requires operators to conduct repetitive tests of the switches and replace them if needed. The directive covers 2,502 U.S.-registered airplanes and 9,315 airplanes worldwide.

It was prompted after an operator reported in September that both pressure switches failed the on-wing functional test on three different 737 models.

The FAA said failure of the switches could result in the cabin altitude warning system not activating if the cabin altitude exceeds 10,000 feet (3,050 m), at which point oxygen levels could become dangerously low.

Airplane cabins are pressurized to the equivalent of not more than 8,000 feet (2438 m).

[...] Due to the importance of functions provided by the switch, the FAA in 2012 mandated all Boeing 737 airplanes utilize two switches to provide redundancy in case of one switch's failure.

The directive covers all versions of the 737 jetliners, including the MAX, but is unrelated to any issues related to the MAX's return to service last November.


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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Monday July 19 2021, @02:26PM (6 children)

    by Beryllium Sphere (r) (5062) on Monday July 19 2021, @02:26PM (#1157879)

    Even for something that was not life safety critical, they did redundancy without being told to, and to prevent common mode failures used different designs for the primary and backup.

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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Spamalope on Monday July 19 2021, @03:28PM (4 children)

    by Spamalope (5233) on Monday July 19 2021, @03:28PM (#1157890) Homepage

    Whereas now Boeing designs the plane, then removes the safety features they think they can get away with and sells them back at high markups (according to pilots vlogging about the changes over there). For the MAX... why is there only one angle of attack sensor when their new programming to 'fake' a 737 NG so no retraining is needed made that sensor so critical it'll result in a loss of the aircraft if the single sensor fails.

    I'm curious: Will EA sue them for copying their business methods?

    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday July 19 2021, @04:03PM (3 children)

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 19 2021, @04:03PM (#1157901) Journal

      Will EA sue them for copying their business methods?

      Huh? What does EA have to do with the angle of attack sensors?

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 19 2021, @04:48PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 19 2021, @04:48PM (#1157930)

        What does EA have to do with the angle of attack sensors?

                  Upselling
        relevant sentence:
                  removes the safety features they think they can get away with and sells them back at high markups

        you know; like EA pulls all the good parts of their games out and makes you buy it via DLC

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 20 2021, @10:59PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 20 2021, @10:59PM (#1158490)

          Coming soon: airplane loot boxes. Want to upgrade your seats? Add safety features? Different paint job? Just buy one of our brand new Boeing Loot Boxes to get a chance to win a free random* upgrade.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 19 2021, @05:15PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 19 2021, @05:15PM (#1157945)
        It's the old TV development model. Build the best one possible, and then start removing/cheapening out on parts until it stops working.
  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by RS3 on Monday July 19 2021, @05:09PM

    by RS3 (6367) on Monday July 19 2021, @05:09PM (#1157941)

    Even for something that was not life safety critical, they did redundancy without being told to, and to prevent common mode failures used different designs for the primary and backup.

    And then the MBAs took over...

    (reference to short-term profit becoming the priority in almost every sector of society)