It takes quite a lot to spook me about air travel. I don’t usually get the heebie-jeebies when incidents occur aboard aircraft.
However, I am officially spooked by the crash of that Boeing 737 MAX 8 in Ethiopia.
Furthermore, I am glad that the president of the United States ordered the planes out of the sky. Donald Trump has been criticized for being a bit late issuing the order in the wake of the crash that killed 157 people, including eight Americans. I won’t join that criticism. He acted and I support the grounding of the aircraft.
What’s so terribly troubling is the nature of the crash and the reports that the plane somehow — all by itself — pitched nose-first into the ground. The pilot was not at fault. Indeed, I understand that Ethiopian Airlines is a first-rate air carrier.
I am grateful that I won’t be traveling by air anytime soon. I also am glad to avoid having to order myself and my family off one of those MAX 8 jetliners were the need to arise.
Yes, it is troubling that the aircraft built by a proud American company now has been deemed suspect in the cause of this tragedy. National pride, though, doesn’t matter when the overarching issue is the safety of human beings.
In fact, I am so spooked that I might never book a flight aboard one of those MAX aircraft — even if the smart folks fix what ails it.
A little investigation into this reveals a real lack of concern by Bothe Boeing and the FAA. The 737 Max 8 and Max 9 Airframes use a larger engine. Because of the size of the engine, ground clearance was an issue, so the engine was positioned forward of the wing. This changed the weight and balance parameters of the airframe. This would cause the aircraft to change its attitude and pitch. Boeing compensated with a software fix that would correct the planes attitude and pitch.
What would normally be corrected by the pilot is now being corrected by the software. What is happening is the pilot is correcting and the software is correcting as well. This creates a conflict in instructions and the aircraft pitches downward counteracting the pilot’s control.
As it apparently turns out, Boeing and the FAA made a decision not to inform the pilot’s of this change and additional pilot training would have a cost to the Airlines and Boeing would not be able to put the new aircraft into use as quickly.
Boeing was driven by profit over safety, apparently the airlines themselves were not in the loop about the situation, and Boeing did not tell the airline that additional pilot training was needed.
To make matters worse, the FAA sided with Boeing on this decision.
This seems to be the new American mantra. Profits take priority over safety and quality control. The public is expendable. MBA’s with a spreadsheet control our lives.