INTRODUCTION
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The crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 have rocked the global aviation industry, sparked numerous investigations and resulted in the grounding of hundreds of Boeing 737 Max aircrafts worldwide.
This piece will examine the crash, identify its causes from the preliminary reports of the numerous ongoing investigations and proffer solutions to prevent future occurrences.
BACKGROUND FACTS
On Monday, 29th October, 2018, at 6:20am, Lion Air Flight 610 took off from Jakarta, Indonesia. Its destination was Pangkal Pinang, the largest city of Indonesia’s Bangka Belitung Islands. Twelve minutes after takeoff, the plane crashed into the Java Sea, killing all 189 passengers including the crew.
Nearly five months later, on Sunday, 10th March, 2019, at 8:38am, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 took off from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Its destination was Nairobi, Kenya. Six minutes after takeoff, the plane crashed near the town of Bishoftu, Ethiopia, killing all 157 people aboard.
It is noteworthy that the crashed jets were Boeing 737 Max 8s, a variant of the best-selling aircraft in history. When Airbus announced in 2010 it would make a new fuel-efficient and cost-effective plane, Boeing rushed to release its own version. That version was the 737 Max airplanes.
WHAT WAS THE RESPONSE?
On 1st November, 2018, the Indonesian rescue team located the flight data recorder. The cockpit voice recorder was found over two months later, on January 14th, 2019. One member of the volunteer rescue team died during recovery operations. While both the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder of Ethiopian Airlines 302 were recovered from the crash site on 11th March, 2019.
It is public knowledge that the Boeing 737 Max series of aircraft was introduced in 2017. Both crashes are still under full investigation. These are the only two accidents involving the new Boeing 737 Max series of aircraft. Since the crash of Ethiopian Airlines 302, more than 300 Boeing 737 Max passenger jets have been grounded worldwide but the United States was slower to act than other countries.
Further to the above, no fewer than 41 (Forty-One) Countries, including but not limited to China, Nigeria and the European Union have announced their decision to ground the plane, but the United States of America’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) declined to act. President Trump initially responded by tweeting on 12th March, 2019, that airplanes had become too complex, “Pilots are no longer needed, but rather computer scientists from MIT,”.
Consequently, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg spoke to Trump that same day, urging him not to ground the Max 8. But on Wednesday, 13th March, 2019, President Trump eventually bowed to pressure, directing the FAA to ground the plane, but the President also praised Boeing in the same breath, calling it “a great, great company with a track record that is so phenomenal.”
Boeing maintains that the new, more fuel efficient Max jets are safe, but supports the FAA’s decision to ground the planes. The Chicago-based company has stopped delivery of all new Max jets to its customers. Stock losses have wiped around $28 billion from its market value since the Ethiopian Airlines crash.
WHAT CAUSED THESE CRASHES?
Both crashes are currently under investigation, and there is no final word on what caused either tragedy. However, taking a cue from the preliminary reports and interview of major players to both crash, investigators are focused on a specific tech feature that may have forced both planes into a nosedive seconds before the crashes.
A preliminary report from Indonesian investigators indicates that Lion Air 610 crashed because a faulty sensor erroneously reported that the airplane was stalling. The false report triggered an automated system known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS). This system tried to point the aircraft’s nose down so that it could gain enough speed to fly safely.
The MCAS takes readings from two sensors that determine how much the plane’s nose is pointing up or down relative to oncoming airflow. When MCAS detects that the plane is pointing up at a dangerous angle, it can automatically push down the nose of the plane in an effort to prevent the plane from stalling. Investigators have found strong similarities in the angle of attack data from both flights. A piece of a stabilizer in the wreckage of the Ethiopian jet with the trim set in an unusual position was similar to that of the Lion Air plane.
WHAT IS MCAS?
According to Boeing, the decision to include this change to the flight control operations was not arbitrary. When the company designed the Max jets, it made the engines larger to increase fuel efficiency, and positioned them slightly forward and higher up on the plane’s wings. These tweaks changed how the jet handled in certain situations. The relocated engines caused the jet’s nose to pitch skyward.
Consequently, Boeing added a computerized system called MCAS to prevent the plane’s nose from getting too high and causing a stall. MCAS is unique to the Max jetsand isn’t present in other Boeing 737s.
The MCAS is activated without the pilot’s input, which has led to some frustration among pilots of the 737 Max jet. At least half a dozen pilots have reported being caught off guard by sudden descents in the aircraft. One pilot said it was “unconscionable that a manufacturer, the FAA, and the airlines would have pilots flying an airplane without adequately training, or even providing available resources and sufficient documentation to understand the highly complex systems that differentiate this aircraft from prior models,” according to an incident report filed with a NASA database.
Another element that caused the crashed is that the jets that crashed lacked safety features that could have provided crucial information to the crew because they were sold as options by Boeing. This was previously reported to experts, who stated that a warning light that would have alerted the crew to a disagreement between the Max jet’s angle of attack sensors wasn’t part of Lion Air’s optional package of equipment.
It has become standard practice in the Global Aviation Industry, particularly for Boeing and other aircraft manufacturers, the practice of charging to upgrade a standard plane can be lucrative. Top airlines around the world must pay handsomely to have the jets they order fitted with customized add-ons.
Sometimes these optional features involve aesthetics or comfort, like premium seating, fancy lighting or extra bathrooms but other features involve communication, navigation or safety systems, and are more fundamental to the plane’s operations.
Boeing will stop charging extra for one of the safety features, the disagreed light that was missing from both crashed jets, which would have activated if the angle of attack sensors were at odds with each other. That feature will now become standard in all new 737 Max planes.
WERE PILOTS GIVEN ADEQUATE TRAINING?
Investigation so far has revealed that the pilots were not given adequate training. When the Max jet was developed, regulators determined that pilots could fly the planes without extensive retraining because they were essentially the same as previous generations. This saved Boeing a lot of money on extra training, which aided the company in its competition with Airbus to introduce newer, more fuel-efficient airplanes. Also, the FAA didn’t change those rules after Lion Air 610 crashed.
Furthermore, rather than long hours training sessions in giant, multimillion-dollar simulators, many pilots instead learned about the 737’s new features on an iPad. Pilots at United Airlines put together a 13-page guide to the 737 Max, which did not even mention the MCAS.
According to Reuters, the doomed Lion Air cockpit voice recorder revealed how pilots scoured a manual in a losing battle to figure out why they were hurtling down to the sea. Since the crash of Ethiopian Airlines 302, that has mostly changed.
On Sunday, 17th March, 2019, Muilenburg issued a statement describing steps the company was taking to update its technology. Muilenburg further stated that, while investigators continue to work to establish definitive conclusions, Boeing is finalizing its development of a previously announced software update and pilot training revision that will address the MCAS flight control laws behavior in response to erroneous sensor inputs.
THE FAA’S CERTIFICATION
The approval process for Boeing’s Max jetliners was rushed and possibly compromised. It has been discovered that FAA managers pushed the agency’s engineers to delegate safety assessments to Boeing and to speedily approve the resulting analysis. Under pressure to approve its new Max jets so it could catch up to Airbus, Boeing turned in a safety assessment to the FAA that was riddled with errors.
“There was constant pressure to re-evaluate our initial decisions,” the former [FAA] engineer said. “And even after we had reassessed it … there was continued discussion by management about delegating even more items down to the Boeing Company.”
“There wasn’t a complete and proper review of the documents,” the former engineer added. “Review was rushed to reach certain certification dates.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Department of Transportation’s inspector general is probing the FAA’s approval of the Max jets. The DOT’s investigation is focused on the FAA’s Seattle office, which certifies the safety of new aircraft. A subpoena seeking documents from the office, including emails, correspondence, and other messages has been issued and served.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is joining the mix of agencies investigating the crashes and their aftermath. According to The Seattle Times, the agency will lend its considerable resources to DOT agents probing the FAA’s certification of the Max jets.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
The US Senate convened a hearing on the FAA’s certification of Boeing 737 Max jets on 27th March, 2019, Boeing executives and officials from the FAA were called to testify at the first congressional hearing on the twin crashes. They were asked why the regulator agreed to certify the Max planes in 2017 without requiring extensive additional pilot training.
On 19th March, 2019, President Trump named Stephen Dickson, a former Delta Air Lines executive, as his choice to become the permanent head of the FAA. Dickson will no doubt face stiff questioning during his confirmation process, as more details about the agency’s certification of the Max jets trickle out.
Meanwhile, experts are questioning the legality of documents that the families of Lion Air 610’s victims say they are being pressured into signing, according to The New York Times. In order to collect payments of 1.3 billion rupiah, or $91,600, families are being required to sign a pledge promising not to pursue legal action against Lion Air, its financial backers, and Boeing.
If the reports of such pledge are anything to go by, they are an express violation of Indonesian Laws.
SOLUTION
Boeing has announced a fix for the 737 Max airplane, which remains widely grounded across the globe after an Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed shortly after takeoff and killed all 157 on board earlier in March. It was the second crash in less than six months, after a Lion Air flight crashed in Indonesia last October.
The company undertake to make standard in all 737 planes a warning system that had previously been a paid optional upgrade. Neither of the Boeing planes involved in the Indonesia or Ethiopia crashes had the warning system installed, but Boeing told reporters that the fix to include this as standard is not an admission of responsibility in either of the crashes.
The company says it plans to submit a final version of the software to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration this week, but it will need to go through the FAA approval process before planes are ready to fly with the upgrades.
Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Kevin McAllister said in a statement the company will carefully review the preliminary report released (which includes observation and causes as stated above in this piece) and take any and all additional steps necessary to enhance the safety of our aircraft.
In order to ensure unintended MCAS activation will not occur again, Boeing has developed and is planning to release a software update to MCAS and an associated comprehensive pilot training and supplementary education program for the 737 MAX.
“As previously announced, the update adds additional layers of protection and will prevent erroneous data from causing MCAS activation. Flight crews will always have the ability to override MCAS and manually control the airplane.”
“We will carefully review the AIB’s preliminary report and will take any and all additional steps necessary to enhance the safety of our aircraft.”
- Boeing Commercial Airplanes President & CEO Kevin McAllister.
Also, the US-FAA has announced that a joint governmental review of the now grounded Boeing 737 Max will begin on 29th April, 2019 and will include 9 (Nine) other aviation regulators around the world.
The Joint Authorities Technical Review (JATR) will include experts and regulators from China, the European Aviation Safety Agency, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. The JATR is set to last for 90 (Ninety) days. The group will conduct a comprehensive review of the certification of the aircraft’s automated flight control system.
Also, they will evaluate aspects of the 737 Max automated flight control system, including design and pilots’ interaction with the system, to determine its compliance with all applicable regulations and to identify future enhancements that might be needed
CONCLUSION
Flowing from the above, it is evident that Boeing and officers of the US-FAA are responsible for the result of the crash. Their actions and omissions has given the global aviation industry setback.
However, it is expedient that there is strict and full compliance of aviation regulations by all players and stakeholders in the Aviation Industry.
Jibola O. Salvador Esq., ChMC., Associate Probitas Partners LLP ,07053341066, jibola@probitaspartnersllp.com
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