11127 shaares
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99 private links
When the plane was first designed, engineers determined that using a single sensor—measuring what is technically known as the angle of attack—would be simpler and was in line with the plane maker’s long-held philosophy to keep pilots at the center of cockpit control, a person familiar with the matter said.
That earlier design of the system, known as MCAS, has puzzled some pilots and safety experts, who wondered why the system didn’t rely on multiple feeds.
Mike Michaelis, chairman of the safety committee at American Airlines Group Inc.’s pilot union, welcomed news of the coming Boeing software fix. “That’s the way it should have been in the first place,” he said.
The software change also offered reassurance to concerned MAX passengers on at least one U.S. flight Tuesday.
“Everyone’s just happy that something was going to be done,” Peter McGuinness, chief commercial and marketing officer at yogurt maker Chobani and who flew from New York to Chicago on Tuesday on an American Airlines 737 MAX 8. He described himself “very concerned, so much so that I am taking a regional jet on the way back.”
An American spokesman said the airline continues to believe the MAX is safe and pilots are well-trained to operate the aircraft. Southwest Airlines Co. and United Continental Holdings Inc. also operate MAX planes.
// Sadly, I think we're going to find that inadequate training/documentation of particular quirks in this system probably contributed heavily to both crashes, rather than an outright design "flaw" -- but that doesn't help the dead. And it's just my speculation at this point.
That earlier design of the system, known as MCAS, has puzzled some pilots and safety experts, who wondered why the system didn’t rely on multiple feeds.
Mike Michaelis, chairman of the safety committee at American Airlines Group Inc.’s pilot union, welcomed news of the coming Boeing software fix. “That’s the way it should have been in the first place,” he said.
The software change also offered reassurance to concerned MAX passengers on at least one U.S. flight Tuesday.
“Everyone’s just happy that something was going to be done,” Peter McGuinness, chief commercial and marketing officer at yogurt maker Chobani and who flew from New York to Chicago on Tuesday on an American Airlines 737 MAX 8. He described himself “very concerned, so much so that I am taking a regional jet on the way back.”
An American spokesman said the airline continues to believe the MAX is safe and pilots are well-trained to operate the aircraft. Southwest Airlines Co. and United Continental Holdings Inc. also operate MAX planes.
// Sadly, I think we're going to find that inadequate training/documentation of particular quirks in this system probably contributed heavily to both crashes, rather than an outright design "flaw" -- but that doesn't help the dead. And it's just my speculation at this point.
