Avionics

There are 6 posts filed in Avionics (this is page 1 of 1).

Boeing still having troubles with 737-MAX

In recent news:

  • The FAA reinforces that there is no date for the return to service of the 737-MAX aircraft (USA Today)
  • Boeing announces a temporary pause in 737-MAX production starting January 1, 2019 (USA Today)
  • Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenberg is fired by the Boeing Board of Directors and current board member David Calhoun is named as CEO effective January 13, 2020 (Chicago Tribune, CNN)

It will be interesting to see the effect of the 737-MAX pause on Boeing’s suppliers. In November 2019, Kelly Ortberg said that Collins Aerospace is seeing improvement in aftermarket sales for other Boeing 737 variants due to the 737-MAX service delays. However, the New York Times also had a followup report in November 2019 on the extent to which Collins Aerospace is involved in MCAS software development and UTC involvement in the angle of attack sensor from Rosemount Aerospace, a UTC company (as well as Collins Aerospace being owned by UTC).

More news on Boeing MCAS issues

The New Republic features an article by Maureen Tkacik on the MCAS issues for the Boeing 737-MAX. This one references many of the previous articles from other publications on topics like the outsourcing of software development and the use of DERs on the program. To me, this article breaks new ground in examining the management culture of Boeing, how things changed after Boeing purchased McDonnell Douglas, and how this affected the 737-MAX development process. A recurring theme from previous articles is how the pursuit of profit and “making your numbers” can result in safety impacts and, in this case, loss of life.

737-MAX software update still in progress, Collins Aerospace/UTC is involved

From recent reporting, the FAA is still several weeks away from approving the MCAS software changes relating to the Lionair and Ethopian Airlines crashes. In the industry media I read, I had not seen anything whether this was software created by Boeing or by one of its suppliers. This morning, I decided to do a search, and quickly found that it was my company (Collins Aerospace) involved in MCAS software development, and that Collins Aerospace supplies the computer that runs the software. Hoo boy!

  • Washington Post: Boeing’s 737 Max design contains fingerprints of hundreds of suppliers
  • The Gazette (Cedar Rapids IA, former headquarters location of Rockwell Collins/Collins Aerospace): United Technologies is parent company of sensor maker under scrutiny for Boeing 737 Max failure

Read Boeing 737 MAX crash and the rejection of ridiculous data by philg

“Boeing 737 Max: What went wrong?” (BBC) contains a plot showing the angle of attack data being fed to Boeing’s MCAS software. Less than one minute into the flight, the left sensor spikes to an absurd roughly 70-degree angle of attack. Given the weight of an airliner, the abruptness of the cha…

Philip Greenspun makes it sound simple, after the damage has been done. The trick is to figure this out before there is an accident.