Reports emerged yesterday that the pilots of the Ethiopian 737 MAX utilized the proper procedure to shut down the MCAS system during flight, but that the system failed to respond and continued to press the nose down until the pilots lost control of the aircraft.
That indicates further problems with the MCAS system, and may explain Monday’s announcement by Boeing that their proposed software update will take a few more weeks until it is ready.
Analysis
An automated system that will not shut off, even when pilots command it to, indicates a fundamental design flaw and a more serious concern than previously anticipated. It also brings into question how a system that could “run away” with an aircraft and not be shut down could have been certified by the FAA
. The level of seriousness of the problem has now been elevated to a much higher level that may require more than simple software changes.
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