The first incident occurred on October 29, 2018. Just twelve minutes after a nearly brand new Indonesian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 plane took off, it began to plunge rapidly into the Java Sea, claiming the lives of 189 people.
Less than five months later, on March 10, 2019, another Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed into the ground at 700 kilometers per hour (435 miles per hour) six minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa airport. The crash killed 157 people.
What's wrong with Max 8?
No one knows exactly what happened in Ethiopia. Only an analysis of the electronic flight data recorders, which were recovered this Monday, will provide a real answer.
However, the parallels between the two accidents are obvious: The pilots of both planes struggled unsuccessfully to gain altitude. They also both wanted to return to the airport due to technical issues. But neither did.
The pilots of the plane in Indonesia apparently faced some problems, according to investigators.
The worst was the malfunctioning software, the existence of which was not even mentioned in the airplane manual.
The software caused the plane to plunge, which the pilots were powerless to stop.
After two horrific incidents in less than five months, Boeing's latest model is under suspicion.
As of Wednesday, 40 countries have banned all Boeing 737 Max 8 flights from their airspace, including every member of the European Union.
US officials, on the other hand, say the Max 8 is still safe to fly.
Boeing is heading for the biggest disaster in its history. Airlines around the world have ordered more than 5.000 Max 8s. Although no orders have been canceled yet, the plane's reputation has been tarnished. On Monday, Boeing's stock price fell more than 10 percent.
According to "Spiegel Online", in order to be competitive, since 1968 Boeing has improved the old model of the 373, making it more economical, increasing its size, or efficiency.
But the engineers who worked on it, according to the German newspaper, knew full well that they were making compromises that they would never have tolerated in a newer aircraft model. The consequences of this can now be revealed.
Poor quality temporary solutions
When Boeing began development of the Max 8 in 2011, one thing was clear: The engine would be powered by a highly fuel-efficient engine known as Lean, manufactured by CFM.
Boeing's rival, Airbus, had also equipped its A320neo with the same propulsion equipment.
One of the reasons the Lean engine is so economical is because the air intake has a large diameter: 198 centimeters (6.5 feet). While the Airbus A320neo has plenty of room for such an engine, the landing gear on the Max 8 is short, limiting the space under the plane's wings. The engine simply won't fit.
To find a solution, Boeing engineers came up with the idea of shortening the engine mounting structure, which attaches the heavy engines to the underside of the wings.
This worked, but it came at a serious cost to the aircraft's flight mechanics. As a result, the Max 8 dangerously increased what we call the nose of the aircraft.
In rare and extreme circumstances, the plane had a high chance of crashing. Boeing engineers improvised a solution. They developed software that would run in the background.
Once the plane's nose pointed up, the system would automatically activate the plane's tail to make it safe by balancing it.
The pilots wouldn't even notice the software interference – at least that was the idea. Boeing didn't even consider notifying pilots about the new software.
Unfulfilled promise
But Boeing engineers apparently did not consider that the new "MCAS" software was extremely sensitive, as evidenced by the Lion Air crash.
Sensors constantly monitor the aircraft's position as it flies through the air. If a single sensor malfunctions and incorrectly reports that the aircraft's pitch is too high, MCAS automatically lowers the nose.
The pilots don't even know what's happening to them. They can try as hard as they want, but the computer keeps working against them, making a crash inevitable.
After the Lion Air crash, Boeing announced that it would update the software in early 2019. So far, no such update has been made.
The last word from Boeing was that the software update would be available in April.
Now, Boeing is under even greater pressure. If investigators confirm that the Ethiopian Airlines plane was a victim of MCAS, authorities could also revoke the Max 8's current license.
Managers at Boeing have long known that even the best engineers in the world would not be able to extend the life of the 737 indefinitely.
Boeing had planned to introduce a new aircraft model by 2030. But, as a result of the current crisis, the company may have no choice but to release the new model as soon as possible.
NOTE: This article is the intellectual property of Mirror/ Adapted to Albanian Hashtag.al
