The airline plans to purchase 41 more Boeing 737-8 Max planes
“Once bitten, twice shy,” doesn’t really apply to Africa’s biggest carrier, Ethiopian Airlines. Amid this year’s Dubai Air Show, the company has announced that it has ordered 20 planes of the Boeing 737-8 Max—the same model that killed 157 people six minutes after taking off from Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa in March 2019.
Five months earlier, a similar plane—the Lion Air 737 Max—crashed in Indonesia’s Java Sea, causing 189 instant fatalities. In both cases, investigators determined sensor malfunctions to be the cause.
Boeing admitted full responsibility for the malfunctions. The accidents led to the grounding of 737 Max models for two years; flights were resumed in June 2021.
Why is Ethiopian Airlines buying 737-8 Max planes?
Most airlines have since avoided purchasing the aircraft, with only 30 out of the world’s 5,000 airlines flying it. But Ethiopian Airlines thinks adding the model to its fleet makes business sense—despite travelers citing fears of flying in the 737 Max since the 2019 accident. “We have renewed our confidence in that aircraft,” CEO Mesfin Tasew told the press in Dubai. “We believe we have checked and confirmed that the design defect of that aircraft has been fully corrected by Boeing.”
Tasew also said Ethiopian Airlines would purchase 21 more 737 Max planes in the near future. It demonstrates, he added in a press release, the company’s commitment “to serve passengers with the latest technologically advanced airplanes.” The airline said in the release it is purchasing the model because it “reduces fuel use and emissions by 20%” while minimizing noise by 50% compared to the planes it will replace.” But returning to the plane hasn’t been without controversy for Ethiopian Airlines in the past, particularly among families of crash victims.
read more: https://qz.com/ethiopian-airlines-boeing-737-max-faa-fatal-accident-1851028514
There wasn’t even a huge issue to begin with. There was a clunky checklist and pilots didn’t get any specific training on it but I would be comfortable flying in an unmodified one with any major US or EU carrier. The planes that crashed were safely recoverable, the pilots just made ongoing mistakes for a very long time in both situations.
No that isn’t the whole story. You’ve presented just a small sliver of the overall problem with the Max.
The Max uses a new type of engine which is too large to fit underneath the wing as it did with older models. To make it fit, Boeing had to mount it just forward of the wing which significantly changes the center of gravity and thrust for the plane.
This changed the flight characteristics of the plane and Boeing engineers put controls and system over-rides in place to adjust for these differences. Unfortunately the system they put in place did not have enough backups for these new flight control systems nor did they make pilots aware of the changes or the overrides for them if something went wrong. Boeing also hid these changes from the FAA because if they had known about them it would have required a much more intensive certification process for pilots to switch from older 737s to the new Max.
I have greatly simplified the story here but as with all major disasters there were a string of failures that causes this crash. At every step of the way this disaster could have been avoided but Boeing consciously made decisions that weren’t in the interests of good engineering or public safety. In the end they paid for it financially, unfortunately the major decision makers have avoided criminal culpability.
I highly recommend that anyone who is interested in this story just do a search on YouTube to educate themselves on the Boeing Max disaster. There are great documentaries on this subject that are fascinating to watch.
I know the entire story. I’m also a pilot who has flown Boeing aircraft, a trained aviation mishap investigator and flight safety officer. It was a slightly sloppy job done by Boeing consistent with FAA guidelines and oversight. It could have been done better but it was absolutely sufficient for standard ops. The only issue was when substandardly/proficient pilots had an issue. The jets were flyable and recoverable.
Claiming a lot of expertise for a person who has posted nothing but verifiable horse shit in this whole thread.