Pilots reveal safety fears over Boeing’s fleet of Dreamliners

Company admits that fire extinguisher switch has failed a ‘small number’ of times

Airline pilots have voiced fears over the safety of a fleet of Boeing aircraft after a crucial fire-fighting system has been found to have the potential to malfunction.

Boeing has issued an alert to airlines using its flagship B787 Dreamliner, warning that the switch used to extinguish an engine fire has failed in a “small number” of instances. The switch also severs the fuel supply and the hydraulic fluid to prevent flames spreading.

UK airlines Tui, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic operate more than 60 Dreamliners between them. The US regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), has decided not to ground the fleet, despite admitting a “risk to the flying public”.

Pilots, however, claim that the safety of passengers and crew is being compromised. “If there was an engine fire on a transatlantic flight and the aircraft had one of the defective fire switches, then we would have to fly with a burning wing for up to three hours before we could safely land,” a pilot with a British airline told the Observer.

Questions have been raised by some pilots about the engine fire-fighting system on the Boeing B787 Dreamliner. Photograph: Paul Joseph Brown/AFP/Getty Images

In its alert to airlines, Boeing warns that long-term heating can cause the fire switch to stick in the locked position so it can’t be used to release the two fire extinguishers in each engine.

The FAA has issued an airworthiness directive, mandatory instructions to air operators, announcing that the problem is “likely to exist or develop in other products of the same design” and that “the potential exists for an airline fire to be uncontrollable”. However, it stopped short of grounding the aircraft and instead ordered airlines to check the switch every 30 days.

The FAA was criticised for declining to ground Boeing’s fleet of 737 Max aircraft in March after a software malfunction was suspected of causing two fatal crashes. It changed its stance after regulators in other countries banned the aircraft from flying while the accidents were investigated.

Launched in 2011, the Dreamliner fleet was designed to revolutionise air travel with fuel-efficient technology and a longer flight range.

The $200m (£160m) aircraft were grounded in 2013 following a series of fires caused by leaking batteries. In 2017 the FAA ordered the company to improve its quality control after metal shavings were found among electrical wiring, causing a fire hazard.

This year Boeing increased production of the Dreamliner from 12 to 14 a month and announced that it would be replacing up to 900 quality control inspectors with smart technology. Critics claim that the speed of production is compromising safety.

“We, as a pilot community, have found it all smacks of taking the cheap route and not the safe route,” says a pilot who spoke anonymously to the Observer.

“Boeing insists that the risk of an engine fire is very low, and that’s true, but it’s Boeing’s attitude to the risk that has upset us, especially in light of recent B737 Max issues. If the fire switch malfunctions, there’s no manual override to deploy the engine fire extinguishers and therefore no way of putting out a fire, but Boeing says that it’s fine, and the airlines agree. Such is the fear of Boeing’s power that no one dares speak out.”

Tui, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic all told the Observer that they abided by the safety requirements set out by aviation authorities and their aircraft had been checked and would continue to fly as normal.

Boeing said that fewer than 1% of fire switches have proved defective, and that it was supporting airlines with inspections and replacement parts. “Boeing works closely with the FAA to monitor the fleet for potential safety issues and take appropriate actions,” said a spokesperson.

“Engine fires are a very unlikely event and there have been no observed engine fires in the 787 fleet history.”

The FAA declined to comment on pilot concerns, stating that it invited responses in February when the airworthiness directive was proposed.

(Source: The Guardian)

Ethiopian Airlines crash: Boeing reduces 737 production

Boeing is temporarily cutting production of its best-selling 737 airliner in the continuing fall-out from crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia.

Production will drop from 52 planes a month to 42 from mid-April, Boeing has said in a statement.

The decision is a response to a halt in deliveries of the 737 Max - the model involved in the two accidents.

The plane is currently grounded as preliminary findings suggest its anti-stall system was at fault.

An Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max crashed only minutes after take-off from Addis Ababa in March, killing all 157 people on board.

The same type flown by the Indonesian airline Lion Air crashed into the sea only five months earlier, shortly after taking off from Jakarta. That accident claimed the lives of 189 people.

In both cases, preliminary findings showed the pilots had wrestled with the anti-stall system, known as MCAS, which caused the planes to nose-dive repeatedly.

A report from the Ethiopian authorities issued on Thursday said the pilots of flight ET302 "repeatedly" followed procedures recommended by Boeing before the crash.

What did the Boeing statement say?
"We now know that the recent Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 accidents were caused by a chain of events, with a common chain link being erroneous activation of the aircraft's MCAS function. We have the responsibility to eliminate this risk, and we know how to do it," the statement from Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg said.

He repeated that Boeing was making progress on updating the MCAS software and finalising new training for Max pilots.

"As we continue to work through these steps, we're adjusting the 737 production system temporarily to accommodate the pause in Max deliveries, allowing us to prioritise additional resources to focus on software certification and returning the Max to flight," he said.

Current employment levels would be maintained, the statement said, and a new committee is being set up to look at "policies and processes for the design and development of the airplanes we build".

What difficulties has Boeing faced?
The 10 March crash of Ethiopian Airlines ET302 led to airlines round the world grounding their 737 Max aircraft.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was one of the last major regulators to order the grounding of the Max, leading some to accuse it of being too close to Boeing.

The Boeing CEO promises to fix the problem

Questions are being asked about why the planes were not grounded earlier.

Deliveries of the Max were halted, leading to an excess of the planes needing storage.

After the statement, Boeing shares fell just over 1% in after-hours trading to $387.14 (£333).

How have victims reacted?
Boeing apologised on Thursday saying it was "sorry for the lives lost" in both accidents. But this has failed to satisfy many relatives who questioned why Boeing did not act earlier to take the planes out of service.

The chief pilot's father, Dr Getachew Tessema, told the BBC the apology was "too little, too late".

Yared Getachew, 29, had more than 8,000 hours of flying experience when he was killed.

"I am very proud about my son and the other pilot, both of them," he told the BBC's Emmanuel Igunza.

"To the last minute they struggled as much as they could but unfortunately they were not able to stop it.

"I don't regret that he was a pilot. He died in the course of his duty."

Dr Tessema levels the blame squarely at Boeing, questioning why the company did not stop the 737 Max flying after the Indonesia crash.

"Why did they let them fly? Because they were in competition. They want to sell more. Human life has no meaning in some societies."

Relatives of an American passenger who died in the Ethiopian crash, 24-year-old Samya Stumo, filed the first lawsuit against Boeing on Thursday in Chicago.

(Source: BBC)

Doomed Boeing jets lacked 2 safety features that company sold only as extras

As the pilots of the doomed Boeing jets in Ethiopia and Indonesia fought to control their planes, they lacked two notable safety features in their cockpits.

One reason: Boeing charged extra for them.

For Boeing and other aircraft manufacturers, the practice of charging to upgrade a standard plane can be lucrative. Top airlines around the world must pay handsomely to have the jets they order fitted with customized add-ons.

Sometimes these optional features involve aesthetics or comfort, like premium seating, fancy lighting or extra bathrooms. But other features involve communication, navigation or safety systems, and are more fundamental to the plane’s operations.

Many airlines, especially low-cost carriers like Indonesia’s Lion Air, have opted not to buy them — and regulators don’t require them.

Standard 737 Max planes are not equipped with a so-called angle of attack indicator or an angle of attack disagree light. The indicator will continue to cost airlines extra, but the light won’t.CreditCreditRuth Fremson/The New York Times

Now, in the wake of the two deadly crashes involving the same jet model, Boeing will make one of those safety features standard as part of a fix to get the planes in the air again.

It is not yet known what caused the crashes of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on March 10 and Lion Air Flight 610 five months earlier, both after erratic takeoffs. But investigators are looking at whether a new software system added to avoid stalls in Boeing’s 737 Max series may have been partly to blame. Faulty data from sensors on the Lion Air plane may have caused the system, known as MCAS, to malfunction, authorities investigating that crash suspect.

Federal prosecutors are investigating the development of the Boeing 737 Max jet, according to a person briefed on the matter. As part of the federal investigation, the F.B.I. is also supporting the Department of Transportation’s inspector general in its inquiry, said another person with knowledge of the matter.

The Justice Department said that it does not confirm or deny the existence of any investigations. Boeing declined to comment on the inquiry.

The jet’s software system takes readings from one of two vanelike devices called angle of attack sensors that determine how much the plane’s nose is pointing up or down relative to oncoming air. When MCAS detects that the plane is pointing up at a dangerous angle, it can automatically push down the nose of the plane in an effort to prevent the plane from stalling.

Debris from Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, which crashed on March 10. The angle of attack features could have alerted the pilots if a new software system was malfunctioning.CreditJemal Countess/Getty Images

Boeing’s optional safety features, in part, could have helped the pilots detect any erroneous readings. One of the optional upgrades, the angle of attack indicator, displays the readings of the two sensors. The other, called a disagree light, is activated if those sensors are at odds with one another.

Boeing will soon update the MCAS software, and will also make the disagree light standard on all new 737 Max planes, according to a person familiar with the changes, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they have not been made public. Boeing started moving on the software fix and the equipment change before the crash in Ethiopia.

The angle of attack indicator will remain an option that airlines can buy. Neither feature was mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration. All 737 Max jets have been grounded.

“They’re critical, and cost almost nothing for the airlines to install,” said Bjorn Fehrm, an analyst at the aviation consultancy Leeham. “Boeing charges for them because it can. But they’re vital for safety.”

[After a Lion Air 737 Max crashed in October, questions about the plane arose.]

Earlier this week, Dennis A. Muilenburg, Boeing’s chief executive, said the company was working to make the 737 Max safer.

“As part of our standard practice following any accident, we examine our aircraft design and operation, and when appropriate, institute product updates to further improve safety,” he said in a statement.

Add-on features can be big moneymakers for plane manufacturers.

In 2013, around the time Boeing was starting to market its 737 Max 8, an airline would expect to spend about $800,000 to $2 million on various options for such a narrow-body aircraft, according to a report by Jackson Square Aviation, an aircraft leasing firm in San Francisco. That would be about 5 percent of the plane’s final price.

[The F.A.A.’s approval of the Boeing jet has come under scrutiny.]

Boeing charges extra, for example, for a backup fire extinguisher in the cargo hold. Past incidents have shown that a single extinguishing system may not be enough to put out flames that spread rapidly through the plane. Regulators in Japan require airlines there to install backup fire extinguishing systems, but the F.A.A. does not.

“There are so many things that should not be optional, and many airlines want the cheapest airplane you can get,” said Mark H. Goodrich, an aviation lawyer and former engineering test pilot. “And Boeing is able to say, ‘Hey, it was available.’”

But what Boeing doesn’t say, he added, is that it has become “a great profit center” for the manufacturer.

Both Boeing and its airline customers have taken pains to keep these options, and prices, out of the public eye. Airlines frequently redact details of the features they opt to pay for — or exclude — from their filings with financial regulators. Boeing declined to disclose the full menu of safety features it offers as options on the 737 Max, or how much they cost.

But one unredacted filing from 2003 for a previous version of the 737 shows that Gol Airlines, a Brazilian carrier, paid $6,700 extra for oxygen masks for its crew, and $11,900 for an advanced weather radar system control panel. Gol did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The three American airlines that bought the 737 Max each took a different approach to outfitting the cockpits.

American Airlines, which ordered 100 of the planes and has 24 in its fleet, bought both the angle of attack indicator and the disagree light, the company said.

Southwest Airlines, which ordered 280 of the planes and counts 36 in its fleet so far, had already purchased the disagree alert option, and it also installed an angle of attack indicator in a display mounted above the pilots’ heads. After the Lion Air crash, Southwest said it would modify its 737 Max fleet to place the angle of attack indicator on the pilots’ main computer screens.

United Airlines, which ordered 137 of the planes and has received 14, did not select the indicators or the disagree light. A United spokesman said the airline does not include the features because its pilots use other data to fly the plane.

Boeing is making other changes to the MCAS software.

When it was rolled out, MCAS took readings from only one sensor on any given flight, leaving the system vulnerable to a single point of failure. One theory in the Lion Air crash is that MCAS was receiving faulty data from one of the sensors, prompting an unrecoverable nose dive.

In the software update that Boeing says is coming soon, MCAS will be modified to take readings from both sensors. If there is a meaningful disagreement between the readings, MCAS will be disabled.

Incorporating the disagree light and the angle of attack indicators on all planes would be a welcome move, safety experts said, and would alert pilots — as well as maintenance staff who service a plane after a problematic flight — to issues with the sensors.

The alert, especially, would bring attention to a sensor malfunction, and warn pilots they should prepare to shut down the MCAS if it activated erroneously, said Peter Lemme, an avionics and satellite-communications consultant and former Boeing flight controls engineer.

“In the heat of the moment, it certainly would help,” he said.

(Source: NYT)

There were similarities in the Ethiopian Airlines and the Lion Air crashes.

When the Federal Aviation Administration announced it was grounding all Boeing 737 Max planes, the agency said it had identified similarities between last week's Ethiopian Airlines crash and the Lion Air crash in Indonesia six months earlier.

The Ethiopian Minister of Transport reiterated that point on Sunday, saying preliminary data recovered from the black boxes of the crash in Ethiopia showed similarities to the Air Lion crash.
Neither agency provided many specifics.

So how were the two crashes similar?

This is what happened with each flight
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed the morning of March 10 after taking off from Addis Ababa on its way to Nairobi, Kenya, killing all 157 people on board. The plane was carrying passengers from around the world, many of whom worked for the United Nations.

Lion Air Flight 610 crashed into the Java Sea in Indonesia on October 29 after taking off from Jakarta. All 189 people on board died. The plane was scheduled to make a one-hour journey to Pangkal Pinang on the island of Bangka.

Both were Boeing 737 Max 8 planes
The Boeing 737 Max 8 was a new model unveiled to great fanfare by the US aviation giant about two years ago. The airline also produced a Max 9 and has plans to offer a Max 7 and Max 10, with model numbers based on seating capacity.

There are approximately 350 Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft in operation worldwide, belonging to 54 operators, according to the FAA.

Boeing's website says the 737 Max is the fastest-selling plane in the company's history, with about 5,000 orders from more than 100 customers worldwide.

President Donald Trump said on March 13 his administration was ordering the grounding of all Max 8 and 9 models, hours after Canada said it was grounding the planes after analyzing new satellite tracking data.

Both planes used the same software
The planes were equipped with automated flight software called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), a relatively new feature to Boeing's Max planes.

The MCAS is a system that automatically lowers the nose of the plane when it receives information from its external angle of attack (AOA) sensors that the aircraft is flying too slowly or steeply, and at risk of stalling.

The AOA sensors send information to the plane's computers about the angle of the plane's nose relative to the airflow over and under the wings to help determine whether the plane is about to stall.

Jean-Paul Troadec, the former head of France's aviation accident investigation bureau, told CNN that he saw flaws in the system.

"I think the design of this system is not satisfactory as it relies on only one sensor," he said. "In case this sensor fails, of course the system doesn't work. And in this case it could be difficult for the pilot to overreact to the system."

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg said Monday a software update and related pilot training for the 737 MAX will be released "soon" and will address concerns discovered in the aftermath of the Lion Air crash.

Both planes crashed shortly after takeoff
The Ethiopian Airlines flight went down six minutes after takeoff.

The Air Lion plane crashed 13 minutes after taking off.

Both planes had experienced crews
Ethiopian Airlines tweeted that the first officer had 350 hours of flying time and the pilot in command had 8,100 hours.

The captain of the Lion Air flight, Bhavye Suneja, an Indian national, had more than 6,000 flight hours, and his copilot, named Harvino, had logged more than 5,000, according to a statement posted by Lion Air.

The International Civil Aviation Organization, an agency of the United Nations, recommends commercial pilots have a minimum of 150 hours. The FAA requires that commercial pilots have 1,500 hours.

Both pilots reported problems
The Ethiopian Airlines pilot said he was having difficulties and asked to return to base, Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde GebreMariam told CNN. The pilot was granted permission to return to ground around the same time the flight disappeared from radar.

A preliminary report by Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee said the crew of Air Lion Flight 610 struggled to override the plane's automatic systems in the minutes before it plunged into the ocean. The system pulled the plane's nose down more than two dozen times, the report said.

The report said the MCAS system was responding to incorrect data transmitted by an AOA sensor. A different flight crew experienced the same issue on a flight from Denpasar to Jakarta the previous day, but had turned off the MCAS and took manual control of the plane, the report said.

The Ethiopian Accident Investigation Bureau intends to release a preliminary report within 30 days.

(Source: CNN)

Boeing 737: Singapore bars 737 Max planes from airspace

Singapore's Civil Aviation Authority (CAAS) has temporarily suspended all Boeing 737 Max models from flying into and out of the country.

The decision comes after an Ethiopian Airlines Max 8 crashed on Sunday, killing all 157 people on board.

It was the second fatal accident involving that model in less than five months.

Singapore is a major travel hub, with flights connecting Asia to Europe and the US.

Several airlines and regulators around the world have already grounded the Max 8 model, following the crash.

SilkAir's six Max 8 aircraft will remain grounded for now

Singapore is believed to be the first country to ban all variants of the Max family of aircraft. The suspension goes into effect from 14:00 local time (06:00 GMT).

SilkAir, which operates six Boeing 737 Max aircraft will be affected, as will China Southern Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, Shandong Airlines and Thai Lion Air, CAAS said in its statement.

The aviation authority said it was working with Singapore's Changi Airport Group and the affected airlines to minimise any impact to travelling passengers.

In the US, the country's Federal Aviation Administration told airlines on Monday it believes Boeing's 737 Max 8 model to be airworthy, despite the two fatal crashes.

(Source: BBC)

Top 10 things you probably don’t know about Boeing

With $85 billion in annual revenues, Boeing is quite literally the biggest airplane-building company in the world. Just one of its airplane models, the ubiquitous 737, has carried more than 16.8 billion passengers over its lifetime – more than twice the population of the globe. So chances are, if you’re breathing today, you’ve probably flown on a Boeing. Here are just a few things you probably didn’t know.

1. Boeing’s older than you may think
It’s been 110 years since Orville and Wilbur Wright took their first powered air flight in Kill Devil Hills, N.C. But within just 13 years of the Wright Brothers’ invention of the airplane, Boeing had invented the airplane company. Founded by William E. Boeing in 1916 in Seattle, today it employs roughly 175,000 people and has a presence in nearly half the countries on the globe.

2. Boeing City
The Everett factory is like a small city, requiring its own fire department, security force, fully equipped medical clinic, electrical substations and water treatment plant.

3. The 787 Boeing Dreamliner
The 787 Boeing Dreamliner contains approximately 2.3 million parts, which have been supplied from all over the world. The 737 had only 400 thousand parts.

4. Largest Building on Earth
Guinness World Records list the Boeing Everett factory as the largest building in the world by volume at 472 million cubic feed (13.3 million cubic meters).

Everett

5. Green Facts
The Dreamliner is Boeing’s most eco-friendly airliner for two reasons. First, this is Boeing’s most fuel-efficient airliner, designed to be 20% more efficient than the 767. Second, the 787 is the world’s first major airliner to incorporate primarily composite materials in the construction of its airframe.

6. 29 Elephants
An empty 787 weighs close to 117,617 kilograms. That’s the equivalent of about 29 elephants! The wing span measures at 197 feet (or 60 meters), the length is 186 feet (57 meters), and the height is a total of 56 feet (17 meters).

7. It would take Usain Bolt seven seconds to run from tip to tail.
To be fair, the 747 can cover 100 meters in 0.36 seconds, besting Bolt’s time by 9.22 seconds.

8. Space
From almost the very beginnings of the American space program, Boeing was there. Boeing’s involvement began in earnest in 1960 when its Delta II rocket was launched, carrying the Echo 1A satellite into orbit. Then in 1966 and 1967, the Boeing-built Lunar Orbiters circled the moon, photographing the surface in order to help NASA choose a safe landing site for the Apollo 11 astronauts. The astronauts reached the moon with the help of the 363-foot-tall Saturn V rocket. Its development was integrated by Boeing, which also made the first stage booster.

9. The Wright brothers could have fit their historic first flight inside a 747.
And could have stayed strictly within the 150-foot economy section.

10. The 350-400 person Boeing 747 once carried 1,087 people at once.
During the Operation Solomon evacuation, Israel played some serious clown airplane, tripling standard capacity by modifying the airplane. This beat Quantas’ 747 evacuation record of 674.

(Source: Aviationcv)