Boeing feels the pressure

THE WORLD’S biggest plane-manufacturer faced escalating pressure yesterday after Ethiopia pointed to parallels between its crash and one in Indonesia, placing the focus on the safety of software installed in Boeing 737 MAX planes.

The Ethiopian Airlines disaster on March 11 killed 157 people, grounded Boeing’s marquee MAX fleet worldwide, and sparked a high-stakes inquiry for the shaken aviation industry.

Ethiopian Airlines said at the weekend that an initial analysis of the black boxes showed similarities with a Lion Air flight from Jakarta in October that crashed, killing 189 people. Both planes were MAX 8s and crashed minutes after take-off with the pilots reporting flight control problems.

Under scrutiny is a new automated system in the MAX model that guides the nose lower to avoid stalling.

Lawmakers and safety experts are asking how thoroughly regulators vetted the system and how well pilots were trained for it when their airlines bought new planes.

With the prestige of one of the US’s biggest exporters at stake, Boeing said the MAX series was safe, although it planned to roll out software upgrades.

Boeing has lost billions of dollars of market value since the crash, and halted deliveries of its best-selling mode. There were more than 300 MAX airplanes in operation at the time of the Ethiopian crash, and nearly 5 000 more on order.

Media reports heaped further pressure on Boeing. The Seattle Times said the company’s safety analysis of a new flight control system known as MCAS (Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System) had crucial flaws.

It said the Federal Aviation Administration followed a standard certification process on the MAX rather than detailed extra inquiries. The FAA declined to comment, but said the process followed was normal.

The Wall Street Journal reported that federal prosecutors and the US Department of Transportation were scrutinising the FAA’s approval , while a jury subpoenaed at least one person involved in its development.

Boeing and the FAA declined to comment on that. | Reuters