Boeing is going to update the control software on the 737 MAX — The plane that's crashed twice since October.

Benjamin Zhang
27m

◾The Boeing 737 MAX will receive updated flight control software in the coming weeks.

◾The software announcement comes four months after the crash Lion AirFlight JT610 and two days after the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302. Both of which involved effectively brand new Boeing 737 MAX eight airliners.

◾The update will change the way the plane's MCAS control software reacts to faulty sensor readings.

◾Boeing expects the FAA to make the update mandatory.




The Boeing 737 MAX will be receiving updated flight control software, the airplane maker announced on Tuesday. The software announcement comes four months after the crash Lion Air Flight JT610 and two days after the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302. Both of which involved effectively brand new Boeing 737 MAX 8 airliners.

In a statement, Boeing said:

"For the past several months and in the aftermath of Lion Air Flight 610, Boeing has been developing a flight control software enhancement for the 737 MAX, designed to make an already safe aircraft even safer. This includes updates to the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) flight control law, pilot displays, operation manuals, and crew training. The enhanced flight control law incorporates angle of attack (AOA) inputs, limits stabilizer trim commands in response to an erroneous angle of attack reading, and provides a limit to the stabilizer command in order to retain elevator authority."

The Chicago-based aviation giant said that update will be implemented across the 737 MAX fleet in the coming weeks.

Boeing expects the US Federal Aviation Administration to issue an Airworthiness Directive "no later than" April to mandating the updated software.

The company has not indicated it will make physical changes to the aircraft that has been in service last spring.


At the heart of the controversy surrounding the 737 MAX is MCAS or the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation system. To fit the MAX's larger, more fuel-efficient engines, Boeing had to redesign the way it mounts engines on the 737. This change disrupted the plane's center of gravity and caused the MAX to have a tendency to tip its nose upward during flight, increasing the likelihood of a stall. MCAS is designed to automatically counteract that tendency and point the nose of the plane downward.

Unfortunately, initial reports from the Lion Air investigation indicate that a faulty sensor reading may have triggered MCAS shortly after the flight took off.

OkaNaUbe:
I hope it solves the issue.


As a rule, I don't rush to buy latest products. I want to see how it serves first buyers and until I get good reviews, I don't buy.


I remember when a friend bought the 2005 Toyota Camry (muscle) that had brake issues.

olu77:
Update and then testrun again with more pilot and persengers life. Abi, can we just go back to manual.
God bless the dead and the rest of us left in this experiment center called 'life'

biggy00000:


If we all adopt this good rule of yours, who wld be ' first buyers'

sexiestharam:
America is such an hypocritical nation. Is it not shocking that a country that will normally be the first to have grounded the plane model hasn't because it is an American product? Whether the model is updated or not, most countries will never use the model again because there is no guarantee that the software update will prevent another crash. America the hypocritical nation!

AgreatMan:
Yen yen yen.

So who pays for the two lost planes n the families forever destroyed?

AgreatMan:
Yen yen yen.

So who pays for the two lost planes n the families forever destroyed?