Comment by dnate | Hacker News Reader

Comment by dnate | Hacker News Reader

The way I see any future problem in the Boeing 737 max problem go is this:

- Pilot notices plane going down

- Pilot radios Tower: "We are having the Boeing 737 max problem. How do I solve that again?"

- Operator looks at post-it note on his monitor: "Well, you do <step 1>, <step 2> and <step 3> to disable the faulty MCAS

- Pilot: Thanks

Joking aside, I think almost every pilot has by now at least heard about the problem, and will at least read up on it when they find themselves in a cockpit of a 737 max. If I understood correctly the biggest issue was that pilots simply didn't understand what was going on with their plane and why it was dipping it's nose. Now the MCAS is probably the first thing they will check.

I am not saying that the way Boeing is handling this is ok, just that realistically this issue is probably not going to cause another crash.

> If I understood correctly the biggest issue was that pilots simply didn't understand what was going on with their plane

No. This is not what happened.

The Ethiopian pilots followed the new procedure that Boeing published after the Indonesian crash, where the MCAS was already suspected. The Boeing procedure was not sufficient to save them. The detailed facts about this have been supplied by the flying data that was recovered from the crash, then sent to a French specialized investigating team, then announced by Ethiopian authorities. There are numerous reports about this from reliable sources, including most newspapers.

The simple fact that some people still believe in a proven-wrong scenario is worrying. I suspect the cause is often a mix of the contempt for Southern countries, and idealization of the big firms and their technology. Of course, the American authorities and the initial Boeing claims have also helped biasing the public view. And the modern alternative sources of information probably contributed. Though I remember that, long before social networks replaced newspapers, 75% of Americans believed the absurd theory that Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11.

Weren’t the Ethiopian Air pilots also aware of the problem? Awareness wasn’t enough.

I think the Boeing 737 Max Problem is now safely solved simply due to the popularity it got.

That would be nice.

My problem with trusting that plane is that they essentially tried to fix a 50 year old design with software kludges.

That's not what inspires confidence really and that fundamentally doesn't change.

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