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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBoeing altered key switches in 737 Max cockpit
In the middle of Boeing 737 cockpits, sitting between the pilot seats, are two toggle switches that can immediately shut off power to the systems that control the angle of the planes horizontal tail.
Those switches are critical in the event a malfunction causes movements that the pilots dont want. And Boeing sees the toggles as a vital backstop to a new safety system on the 737 MAX the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) which is suspected of repeatedly moving the horizontal tails on the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines flights that crashed and killed a total of 346 people.
But as Boeing was transitioning from its 737 NG model to the 737 MAX, the company altered the labeling and the purpose of those two switches. The functionality of the switches became more restrictive on the MAX than on previous models, closing out an option that could conceivably have helped the pilots in the Ethiopian Airlines flight regain control.
Boeing declined to detail the specific functionality of the two switches. But after obtaining and reviewing flight manual documents, The Seattle Times found that the left switch on the 737 NG model is capable of deactivating the buttons on the yoke that pilots regularly press with their thumb to control the horizontal stabilizer. The right switch on the 737 NG was labeled AUTO PILOT and is capable of deactivating just the automated controls of the stabilizer.
On the newer 737 MAX, according to documents reviewed by The Times, those two switches were changed to perform the same function flipping either one of them would turn off all electric controls of the stabilizer. That means there is no longer an option to turn off automated functions such as MCAS without also turning off the thumb buttons the pilots would normally use to control the stabilizer.
Peter Lemme, a former Boeing flight-controls engineer who has been closely scrutinizing the MAX design and first raised questions about the switches on his blog, said he doesnt understand why Boeing abandoned the old setup. He said if the company had maintained the switch design from the 737 NG, Boeing could have instructed pilots after the Lion Air crash last year to simply flip the AUTO PILOT switch to deactivate MCAS and continue flying with the normal trim buttons on the control wheel. He said that would have saved the Ethiopian Airlines plane and the 157 people on board.
https://www.heraldnet.com/business/boeing-altered-key-switches-in-737-max-cockpit/?utm_source=DAILY+HERALD&utm_campaign=f0c4db68b6-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d81d073bb4-f0c4db68b6-228635337
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)Boening's chief Lobbyist is the new Pentagon Chief in waiting,the truth is emerging as to the shady pratice's of certain Corporations. Spread enough money around and walla,you got yourself a Certified Airplane.
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(108,509 posts)Pronounced vwolla FWIW
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)BBG
(2,569 posts)But I like that okie dokie spelling. And Siri doesnt even suggest an alternative to dokie but she did to dokey or maybe she was calling me a donkey for trying to spell dokey.
Yeah, I like that!
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)Okie Dokie came from a Comic Book or Comic Script from the fifties.. Still the best spelling with the true meaning.
George II
(67,782 posts)BBG
(2,569 posts)Nt
erronis
(15,485 posts)We called it Walla Walla. It would sound weird to say voila-voila.
Also, don't forget Haydn's famous dueling violas.
luvtheGWN
(1,336 posts)with the accent on the second syllable. It means "there, that's it". Alternatively, the word "voici" -- pronounced "vwa-see" means "here, this is it", a fairly reasonable translation...
(As a Canuck who studied French for several years, I never understood where the word "walla" fit in!)
OTOH, I fully understand okey-dokey, whichever way you spell it!
MineralMan
(146,356 posts)both in money and reputation. Inadequate information for pilots, a lack of training and certification policies for pilots who were already checked out on other 737 models, and other factors are going to lead to massive awards in lawsuits.
Bad job, Boeing!
erronis
(15,485 posts)And crashes be damned.
Hope the C-suite and stockholders are proud.