Boeing launches campaign to restore faith in 737 Max

Bloomberg

After two deadly crashes in five months, Boeing Co is embarking on a campaign to restore confidence in the 737 Max so that its best-selling jet can return to the skies.
In Renton, Washington, the company was expected to gather customers and news media to walk through the details of a software update designed to help pilots more easily avert conditions that investigators have linked to an October disaster in Indonesia. The stall-prevention software is also under scrutiny in a second deadly crash this month in Ethiopia.
In Washington, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will brief lawmakers on its oversight of Boeing’s fixes to the 737 Max — and how officials plan to scrutinise safety testing more closely in the future.
The dual engagements underscore the high stakes for the US aerospace giant and its chief regulator. Boeing needs to regain trust from customers, passengers and government officials from Washington to Beijing after a crisis that has badly tarnished the revamped version of the 737, its most profitable aircraft programme. The FAA is defending its oversight of the 737 Max’s development and certification, even as it prepares to order safety fixes.
“It was a huge wakeup call for both Boeing and the FAA,’’ said Richard Healing, a former member of the National Transportation Safety Board, who is now a safety consultant. “The question is whether or not they can actually convince everybody that they’ve done it right this time.’’
The planemaker has developed an update to the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, according to a company statement. A preliminary report last year about Lion Air Flight 610 indicated that the MCAS system forced the nose down repeatedly before the 737 Max 8 plunged into the Java Sea on October 29. The crash killed 189 people.
Boeing submitted a proposed certification plan for the software changes to the FAA on January 21, according to the statement. After trying it out in flight simulators, the company conducted a test flight on February 7. That was followed by a “certification flight with the FAA’’ on March 12 — just two days after Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed near Addis Ababa, killing 157. Boeing plans a final submission of the MCAS software update soon.

Longer Road
It’s possible the changes will get the 737 Max back in the air within weeks, said aviation consultant Robert Mann. There’s a risk that Chicago-based Boeing and the FAA will face a much longer road ahead before the jet, which debuted less than two years ago, can start flying again.
The regulator is reviewing the software updates proposed by Boeing. Officials in China, Canada and the European Union — who grounded the plane before the FAA — have signalled that they intend to independently review the changes before restoringflights.
That’s a break from historical precedent, in which aviation regulators in other countries typically follow the FAA’s lead and accept their findings, said Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the NTSB.

Southwest 737 Max makes emergency landing
Bloomberg

A Southwest Airlines 737 Max aircraft being flown to storage after a US grounding order was forced to return to a Florida airport because of an engine problem, the carrier said.
The fault on the Boeing Co jetliner had “absolutely no relation” to the flight-control issue that prompted US regulators to ground all 737 Max aircraft on March 13, said Brandy King, a spokeswoman for Southwest.
The engine “performance issue” occurred shortly after the plane left Orlando International Airport, she said.
The crew of Southwest Flight 8701 declared an emergency shortly after takeoff and landed safely in Orlando, said the FAA, which is investigating the incident.