The crashed Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air jetliners lacked two safety features that could have helped avert the disasters because Boeing charged extra to have them installed on 737 MAX 8 planes — but the company will now make one of them standard, according to a report.
Investigators still don’t know what caused the two Boeing 737 MAX 8 flights to crash shortly after takeoff in a five-month span, killing all 346 people aboard both new planes after the pilots lost control.
But authorities suspect that faulty sensors on the Lion Air plane may have caused its anti-stall Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, to malfunction.
The system’s software takes readings from two angle-of-attack sensors, which determine how much of the nose is pointing up or down relative to the flow of air.
When MCAS detects that the plane is about to reach the so-called critical angle of attack, at which point the wings can no longer generate life, the system automatically pushes the nose down.
One of Boeing’s optional safety features is the angle-of-attack indicator, which displays the two sensors’ readings, and the other is a disagree light, which is activated if the sensors are at odds with each other.
The two safety features could have helped the pilots detect faulty readings, according to the New York Times, which reported Thursday that Boeing — which will soon upgrade the MCAS software — will make the disagree light standard equipment on all MAX jets.
The angle-of-attack indicator will remain an option that airlines can buy separately, a person familiar with the changes told the newspaper on condition of anonymity.
Neither feature was required by the Federal Aviation Administration. All 737 MAX jets have been grounded in the wake of the March 10 crash of the Ethiopian Airlines plane.
“They’re critical, and cost almost nothing for the airlines to install,” Bjorn Fehrm, an analyst at the aviation consultancy Leeham, told the Times. “Boeing charges for them because it can. But they’re vital for safety.”
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg said this week that the company was working to make the 737 MAX safer.
“As part of our standard practice following any accident, we examine our aircraft design and operation, and when appropriate, institute product updates to further improve safety,” he said in a statement.
Although add-on features can be big moneymakers for plane manufacturers, aviation lawyer and former engineering test pilot Mark Goodrich said “there are so many things that should not be optional, and many airlines want the cheapest airplane you can get.”
“And Boeing is able to say, ‘Hey, it was available,’” he added.
Boeing declined to provide the Times with the full set of safety features it offers as options on the 737 MAX, or their cost.
The three US carriers that bought the 737 MAX each took a different approach with their cockpit avionics, according to the report.
American Airlines, which has 24 of the planes, bought both the angle-of-attack indicator and the disagree light, the company said.
Southwest Airlines, which has 36 of the MAX jets in its fleet, had already bought the disagree alert feature, and it also installed an angle-of-attack indicator in an overhead display.
After the Lion Air crash, Southwest said it would place the angle-of-attack indicators on the pilots’ main computer screens.
Meanwhile, United did not select the indicators or the disagree lights for their 14 MAX planes. An airline spokesman said the company does not include the features because its pilots use other data to fly the plane.
https://nypost.com/2019/03/21/boeing-charged-extra-for-safety-features-that-may-have-prevented-crashes/
2019-03-21 14:27:00Z
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