Non-Military Aviation

Postby **NTP66** » Thu Apr 04, 2019 7:34 am

Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 pilots 'could not stop nosedive'

Pilots "repeatedly" followed procedures recommended by Boeing before the crash, according to the first official report into the disaster.

Despite their efforts, pilots "were not able to control the aircraft", Transport Minister Dagmawit Moges said.

That is... not good.

Postby **RonnieFranchise** » Thu Apr 04, 2019 8:45 am

First regularly scheduled 787 service to PIT started this week on BA. Cool!

Postby **tifosi77** » Fri Apr 05, 2019 4:42 pm

If you're into plane spotting, look for a place that offers a view of the departure end of the runway when a 7-8 is on takeoff roll. As the aircraft gains speed, you can see the wingtips lift up and airfoil flex. It's a cool effect.

Postby **Shyster** » Wed Apr 10, 2019 10:24 pm

JetBlue announces flights to London from NYC and Boston starting in 2021

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/f ... 427476002/

Probably not coincidentally, 2021 is also when JetBlue is scheduled to start taking delivery of the Airbus A321neoLR aircraft is has on order, which should all come with ETOPS 180 certification. Although I think NYC/Boston to London would also be within the range of a regular A321neo.

Postby **tifosi77** » Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:15 pm

Changes to Flight Software on 737 Max Escaped F.A.A. Scrutiny

The F.A.A. is supposed to be the gold standard in global aviation regulation, with the toughest and most stringent rules for certifying planes. But the March crash in Ethiopia and an earlier one in Indonesia have broadly raised concerns about the agency’s ability to push back against the industry or root out flaws.

In both crashes, the authorities suspect that faulty sensor data triggered the anti-stall system, revealing a single point of failure on the plane. Pilots weren’t informed about the system until after the Lion Air crash in Indonesia, and even then, Boeing didn’t fully explain or understand the risks. The government outsourced much of the certification to Boeing employees, creating a cozy relationship between the company and its regulator.

After the agency’s initial safety review, Boeing decided to quadruple the power of the anti-stall system, which could push down the plane’s nose. The company also expanded the use of the software, known as MCAS, to activate in more situations.

Although officials were aware of the changes, none were fully examined by the F.A.A., according to three people with knowledge of the process.

I was reading on another site that in the final version of the software there was no way for the electric trim to be active and MCAS deactivated short of lowing the flaps, which I do not think made it into the final aircrew training materials. Boeing's longstanding paradigm was that the pilot is always the final authority in controlling the aircraft; MCAS changed that paradigm, but Boeing didn't tell any operators until after the first crash in Indonesia, and even at that they didn't fully disclose how the system functioned.

Postby **NTP66** » Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:23 pm

This entire situation is just all sorts of **** up.

Postby **NTP66** » Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:38 pm

Postby **Shyster** » Tue Apr 16, 2019 6:57 pm

FAA panel says Boeing 737 Max software is ‘operationally suitable’ in new report
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/16/faa-pan ... table.html

The FAA's initial review of Boeing's proposed changes to the MCAS software has been released, and the FAA is saying that based on tests and reviews so far, the new software is "operationally suitable." Final approval of the updated software package will be forthcoming in the next few weeks, and Boeing is still tweaking and testing the software package.

We now know that the Ethiopian crash did involve the MCAS software as a major contributing factor. We may never know exactly what happened, but the data indicates that shortly after takeoff, the right AoA sensor lost its vane entirely. It may have been hit by a bird, or it could have broken off for other reasons, but the readings that the sensor started to give would be the same as if the vane snapped clean off. When the pilots subsequently retracted the flaps, the MCAS system started trimming the nose down using data from the broken sensor. That contributed to a series of events that ended with the pilots losing control. A final report on the Ethiopian crash won't be released for quite a while, but MCAS was definitely a cause.

The MCAS system as originally designed was seriously flawed. It opened the door for a single point of failure (a single bad AoA sensor) to put the aircraft into a configuration where the pilots could not overcome the control forces and continue to fly the aircraft. The revised MCAS software will make the following changes:

- It will constantly perform three different cross-checks between the two AoA sensors (average-value reasonability; left-versus-right deviation; and low-to-high transition), and if any abnormal conditions are detected, then the MCAS system will be inhibited. The Ethiopian flight would have triggered all of those. It would have detected the huge deviation between the left and right AoA sensors, it would have found the average value to be excessive, and it would have flagged the fact that the right AoA sensor transitioned pretty much instantly from a reasonable value to something like 70° nose high.

- The MCAS system will operate within limits where it cannot trim the aircraft to a point where the elevator cannot provide at least 1.2 g of nose-up authority. That means that MCAS will no longer be able to trim the nose down to the point where the pilots could not pull the nose back up using their control yokes.

- Any manual trimming by the pilots (using their electric trim switches) contrary to the downwards trim supplied by MCAS will inhibit further movement by the MCAS system and will prevent the system from repeating the trim movements. This will prevent the cycle of repeated downward trims seen on the Ethiopian and Lion Air crashes.

Boeing will also upgrading all MAX aircraft with the (previously optional) AoA indicator displays and AoA disagree warning indicators on the pilots' flight displays.

Postby **Shyster** » Thu Apr 18, 2019 9:07 pm

Owl found roosting in Virgin Australia 737 engine at Syndey
https://www.airlineratings.com/news/vir ... give-hoot/

Of all of the weird and deadly Australian critters that could have decided to chill out in a 737 engine, a barn owl actually seems rather prosaic. Also, TIL that barn owls are also native to Australia.

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Thu Apr 18, 2019 11:40 pm

I love owls.

Postby **NTP66** » Sun Apr 21, 2019 8:06 am

Boeing just can’t stay out of the news:
New York Times: Boeing's South Carolina plant faces production issues that 'have threatened to compromise safety' - https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/20/politics ... index.html

Postby **dodint** » Sun Apr 21, 2019 9:24 am

My guess is Boeing happenings are about normal but stories about them gain traction.

Boston Globe: Stewardess farts on 787 flight, Dreamliner name called into question.

Postby **RonnieFranchise** » Tue Apr 30, 2019 8:22 pm

I have never been motion sick before but the winds in Houston today did the trick. Brutal.

For an encore we got to what had to be 50’ off the runway or so and went around.

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/UAL ... H/tracklog

Postby **Shyster** » Tue Apr 30, 2019 8:30 pm

Might have been a windshear alert on short final. Did the crew give an explanation?

Postby **RonnieFranchise** » Tue Apr 30, 2019 8:38 pm

Might have been a windshear alert on short final. Did the crew give an explanation?

“Gusty winds” so thats entirely possible

Postby **Shyster** » Sat May 04, 2019 12:20 am

A Boeing 737 coming from Guantanamo Bay slid off the runway and fell into St. Johns River in Florida, officials say
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/03/us/jacks ... index.html

No one hurt, although some pets that were in the cargo hold might be in trouble, given the height of the water. It looks like there was heavy rain passing over the field at the time of landing. The aircraft is a Miami Air International 737-800 being operated as a charter for the Navy, and it was flying from Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to Naval Air Station Jacksonville. If Miami Air sounds familiar, that is the company that provides charter flights for the Penguins. Although I don't think the Pens have probably ever been on this aircraft. The history of this aircraft shows that it has been repeatedly leased by regular airlines as a temporary "fill in" for regular flights. That tells me it's probably outfitted in the standard 3–3 seat configuration. I know, however, that the the Miami Air 737s that the Pens fly on are outfitted with a special 2–2 arrangement of business-class seats.

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Sun May 05, 2019 1:21 pm

Scary in air fire on a Moscow to Murmansk flight:

https://twitter.com/27khv/status/112506 ... 00064?s=19

Check out the entire thread...

Postby **willeyeam** » Sun May 05, 2019 1:25 pm

Sheesh

Postby **dodint** » Sun May 05, 2019 1:27 pm

*whistles*

Postby **shafnutz05** » Sun May 05, 2019 5:30 pm

Prosecute the people that ignored instructions and grabbed their iPads. **** them

Postby **tifosi77** » Sun May 05, 2019 7:16 pm

This was breaking news when I got back from the store this morning. Holy effing dogshit.

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Mon May 06, 2019 6:50 am

The "Aviation Expert" on my morning local news says that the pilot must have trained at Ringling Brothers.

Postby **NTP66** » Mon May 06, 2019 8:22 am

That's pretty low.

Postby **tifosi77** » Mon May 06, 2019 12:34 pm

Prosecute the people that ignored instructions and grabbed their iPads. **** them

Given the way the modern world operates, I've become more tolerant of this kind of thing. The proscription is meant to prevent encumbering evacuation by people carrying gear; you can tuck a tablet into your pants before you go down the chute.

Literally your entire life can be ruined if someone grabs a digital device you leave behind. That's not necessarily true if they grab your toiletries bag or your overnight underwear.

Postby **NTP66** » Mon May 06, 2019 5:00 pm

Overweight survivor of Russian plane inferno 'blocked others from escaping' as hero stewardess pushed people out of jet

Dmitry Khlebushkin (centre) carries his backpack from the airport amid claims that passengers had been blocked from escaping by others who stopped to get luggage

Dmitry Khlebushkin demanded a refund and complained about his treatment by Aeroflot staff as he left Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on Sunday, while relatives of 41 victims mourned their loss.

The 'overweight' Russian has become a focal point of anger after several passengers were seen retrieving luggage while others tried to flee.

According to reports in Russia, only three passengers behind Khlebushkin - who was sitting in seat 10C - survived the inferno.

As the fire raged, hero stewardess Tatyana Kasatkina, 34, had kicked open an exit door and grabbed passengers by their collars to push them to safety.

However another flight attendant, Maxim Moissev, died in the flames as he tried desperately to open a door at the rear of the plane.

If true, this Ned **** should be thrown into a fire.