As the story develops it is clear that there were a lot more changes to the Max series than I thought. I still think there is nothing inherently unsafe about it, but it's becoming obvious that Boeing downplayed the need for training to make sure pilots knew and understood the differences between the old models and the Max series.
Most aircraft that have gone through as many versions and upgrades as the 737 require new type ratings to operate instead of just differences training. Outfits like Southwest that operate all 737's fight tooth and nail against any requirement for a new type rating, because right now with a single type requirement, all of their pilots can pilot all of their planes, which grants them a tremendous amount of flexibility. These sorts of 'business' decisions are lobbied to the FAA, the manufacturers, etc. It ultimately degrades safety but adds to everyone's bottom line- a manufacturer would rather have a single type rating requirement as well- it's cheaper for them in terms of program requirements.
Interesting post by a Forbes blogger defending Boeing's decision to go with the737 MAX instead of a new design. I'm not going to endorse or try to debunk the article, but I do think it sheds some light on why Boeing went the way they did.
Indonesian airline cancels $5 billion order for the Super Max. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna986161
In fairness, the second sensor is not required for safe operation PROVIDED the pilots are well-acquainted with the MCAS and can recognize a fault condition that requires it to be deactivated. To characterize this as Boeing being blase about crashes is unfair, but it is fair to say (given what's known at the moment) that Boeing is over-reliant on pilots to recognize when a dangerous situation with MCAS occurs. I'm astonished that the design does not have a big, red flashing "MCAS ACTIVE" light and annunciation warning when the system is active. The plane is stalling (according to the sensors) and the system is taking control and pushing the nose down; that's something you should call the pilots' attention to! Even if the pilots were not adequately trained about MCAS, knowing that it was active during the event might've been enough for them to figure it out and disable it in time.
Never said it was. Boeing's a U.S. corporation, yeah? Manufacturing an inferior product for profit faster than a Ferengi. #MAGA Or would you prefer "Murica, Fuck YEAH!"?
Only if you feel Der Drumpfenfuhrer is the only thing that can "make America great again," which implies that before he came along the place was a cesspool. Some patriot you are. Now, let's make this all about Donnie Smallhands instead of the original topic. And, go...
Actually it does have everything to do with Trump and his ideas of MAGA. MAGA is not just about bringing white supremacy back. It is about turning back the clock and eliminating protection agencies because it is inconvenient for large companies to add safety features and it is expensive for them when they do not have protections from large lawsuits from the people they hurt. In this case OSHA and the FAA along with the potential for consumer lawsuits and employees who have to fly in these boeing death traps have eliminated some of the accidents because of training and possibly insurance regs which require them to have purchased the safety features. We know these planes were flying into the earth and saved because of the safety regs forced upon those industries, and MAGAts hate them. If twitler and assholes like @Paladin have their way the airlines would be saving a buck and not have to worry about any customer and employee death. We know this is a fact of history that the market breeds corruption and protections against safety and cost. It happens in every single instance of our development and can be seen in foreign places that allow that corruption to run free. So yes this is a giant problem with MAGA that trump is encouraging because he is a greedy scumbag. He may not have invented this idea, but he has certainly given it a huge voice from the ignorant brain damaged MAGAts. I say let us make America better and not go back and be regressive capitalistic twats especially considering in the future we may have self driving cars with no human driver that will be running on faulty sensors and programming which will drive us into trees when the road conditions confuse the autopilot.
You mean the sort of short-term economic idiocy that resulted in Boeing laying off an "undisclosed number" of engineers, starting in January 2018? That kind of idiocy? The kind of idiocy that has you overjoyed?
