Boeing conducts final test flight of 737 MAX with updated software system

All 737 MAX aircraft have been banned from the world’s skies since days after the Ethiopian Airlines crash on March 10

International News: Boeing has conducted a final test flight of a 737 MAX model with an updated anti-stall system prior to its certification by aviation authorities, the aerospace manufacturer has said. CEO Dennis Muilenberg on Wednesday tweeted a video where he said the test flight was carried out on Tuesday, adding that test pilots have completed 120 flights totalling more than 203 hours of airtime with the software fix for the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS).

Investigators have zeroed in on the system as a factor behind the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashes in October and in March respectively, killing nearly 350 people in total. In both cases, the planes nose-dived shortly after takeoff, signalling a problem in a system that was deployed to correct for an aerodynamic issue that tended to cause the plane’s nose to pitch up.

“More than 85 per cent of the 50-plus MAX operators around the globe also have had the opportunity to see the update in action during simulator sessions,” added Muilenberg. All 737 MAX aircraft have been banned from the world’s skies since days after the Ethiopian Airlines crash on March 10. The Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday said a portion of the proposed modifications were “operationally suitable” but said it would not rush towards approval.

Ethiopian plane accident: Black boxes show similarities with Lion Air crash

Both planes were MAX 8s, and both crashed minutes post take-off after pilots reported flight control problems

International News: Ethiopia said on Sunday the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines plane that killed 157 people had “clear similarities” with October’s Lion Air crash, revealed by initial analysis of the black boxes recovered from the wreckage of the March 10 disaster. The crash has generated one of the most widely watched and high-stakes inquiries for years, with the latest version of Boeing’s profitable 737 workhorse depending on the outcome.

Both planes were MAX 8s, and both crashed minutes post take-off after pilots reported flight control problems. Concern over the plane’s safety has caused aviation authorities to ground the model, wiping billions of dollars off Boeing’s market value. “It was the same case with the Indonesian (Lion Air) one.

There were clear similarities between the two crashes so far,” Ethiopian transport ministry spokesman Muse Yiheyis said. “The data was successfully recovered. Both the American team and our (Ethiopian) team validated it,” he told Reuters, adding that the ministry would provide more information after three or four days.

In Washington, however, US officials told Reuters the FAA and US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) had not yet validated the data. Boeing’s safety analysis of a new flight control system known as MCAS on MAX jets had several crucial flaws, one of which was that it understated the power of the system, the Seattle Times said on Sunday. The FAA also did not delve in detailed inquiries and followed a standard certification process on the MAX, the paper said, citing an FAA spokesman….

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