Question

Discuss in 500 words your opinion on what lessons should be learned from the 737 Max 8 crashes. Include at least 3 quotes enclosed in quotation marks and cited in-line by reference to a list at the end.

Answer 1

"Pilots of the crashed Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max were unable to prevent the plane repeatedly nosediving despite following procedures, an initial report has found." It was stated in a news cutting from BBC. Even thought the pilots followed the safety procedures, they still couldn't save the plane from nosediving. It means that the safety procedures were not stated properly as a result of which crashes occurred repeatedly. We learn that before deploying any machine or software, it should be checked repeatedly and there should be proper steps stated for different situations, means there should be a proper use case steps, so that in case if any unexpected event occurs, the operator can control it using safety manual or procedures.

Aviation authorities grounded the entire global fleet of 737 Max aircraft in March after two fatal crashes in five months. When the first event occurred, the authorities should have checked properly, the cause of this fatal accident. If they had done all the checking and found the root cause, there is a possibility that the second event could have been avoided.

The report did not attribute blame for the crash, but a detailed timeline suggests the pilots were struggling to deal with an automated safety system - known as the Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS). The two sensors- left and right both recorded different readings and because of this the automated safety system was triggered and the nose of the plane went down. Pilots can turn off this manually but the readings were continuously wrong as a result of which there was a dispute between crew and the aircraft and then the crash happened. The aircraft were not properly built, the sensors recorded different reading when the should have recorded same as a result of which angle of flight was calculated wrong. Even the warning light was not fitted, which could have alerted the pilots. And Boeing simulator tests also have also found that MCAS behaved much more powerfully than expected, repeatedly forcing the aircraft nose down. So we learn that it is important to check the design and conduct all the necessary tests before deploying any model.