MAX - Oppdatering - Curt Lewis

58,000 Hours Of Work Required to Bring All Boeing 737 MAX Aircraft Back Into Service There's some optimism that the 737 MAX could be back in the air in the near future. But news coming out of the United States in the last week suggests this optimism could be misplaced. In the latest of a series of dispatches about the 737 MAX, Reuters reports it is going to take up to 150 hours of work to get each grounded 737 MAX back in the air. With 387 aircraft sitting idle around the world, that's 58,000 hours. This figure does not include pilot training. Each grounded aircraft needs to be checked, its fluids changed, engines tested, and the new software fix uploaded and run through - presumably very thoroughly. It will be a time consuming and expensive process. 58,000 hours of work required to bring all boeing 737 max aircraft back into service Boeing's 737 Max remains grounded. Photo : Boeing At the time of writing, Boeing had shown its new software fix to the FAA and other aviation regulatory bodies, but the software had not been formally submitted to the FAA for approval. Despite this, there has been some optimism that the 737 MAX could be back in the air in the USA by the end of June. The FAA faces criticism In the wake of the FAA facing strong criticism for its handling of the 737 MAX's grounding and questions surrounding the initial certification of the 737 MAX, the FAA's Acting Administrator, Dan Elwell, remains confident that the grounding will end sooner rather than later but declines to lay out a timetable for its lifting. Airlines are keen for Boeing to resolve issues around the troubled aircraft with some CEO's publicly stating their confidence in the MAX . A factor impeding a swift decision to lift the grounding is whether the FAA rushed the initial certification process in the first place. This is currently under investigation by the US Congress and Department of Transport. 58,000 hours of work required to bring all boeing 737 max aircraft back into service Icelandair is one of the many airline that have grounded the Boeing 737 MAX. Photo: Boeing Some have questioned whether an under resourced FAA gave Boeing too much leeway when first certifying the 737 MAX. The Economist reports that steps in the certification process was often lead by Boeing who were also able to sign off on many of the MAX's safety features. When the 737 MAX was first certified, nearly a decade ago, Boeing was facing intense competition from rival Airbus who had started producing the A320neo, a more fuel efficient aircraft than the 737. Boeing was under competitive and financial pressure and questions are being raised about whether the certification process for the 737 MAX was rushed in order to fight back against Airbus. It is critical for Boeing to get their MAX's back flying as soon as possible. They are frequently meeting with customer airlines and aviation bodies and putting considerable work into ensuring the MAX's supply chain can immediately provide the parts needed to smooth the aircraft's return to the skies. But some carriers are starting to put compensation claims into Boeing, further increasing the pressure on the manufacturer. It's not only the FAA that needs to be satisfied The challenges involved in getting the 737 MAX back in the air have been covered extensively on Simple Flying. But even if the FAA do lift the grounding in the near future there is no guarantee other countries aviation authorities will simply follow the lead of the FAA. The majority (80%) of the world's 737 MAX's fly outside the USA and beyond the scope of the FAA. Most countries have reliable aviation regulatory bodies and they tend to like to make their own decisions. While there is often a history of co-operation, questions surrounding the efficacy of the FAA in certifying the 737 MAX suggest other countries will be reluctant to merely follow the FAA's lead without doing thorough checks of their own. Boeing not only has to satisfy the FAA but the regulatory authorities in every nation that the 737 MAX flies in. In the wake of the crashes and with questions surrounding the FAA, this may not be that simple. Only when the 737 MAX is cleared to fly again will the time consuming process of re-entering the 737 MAX's into service begin. For Boeing and the airlines, that moment cannot come soon enough. https://simpleflying.com/737-max-work-required/ Back to Top

On autopilot: 'Pilots are losing their basic flying skills,' some fear after Boeing 737 Max crashes The crew on the Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed in March performed all procedures recommended by manufacturer Boeing. Buzz60 Automation has made planes safer and more efficient, but the crashes of two Boeing 737 Max jets is leading some to wonder if there is a dangerous flip side. While advanced autopilots and computers are now considered an integral part of any modern jetliner, many pilots worry that the systems are detracting from developing and maintaining their own abilities. "We've been talking about this in the industry for years. Pilots are losing their basic flying skills and there's an overreliance on automation," said Les Westbrooks, an associate professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, after the latest 737 Max crash, an Ethiopian Airlines flight in March. That crash followed the crash of a Lion Air flight into the Java Sea five months earlier. The two accidents together killed a total of 346 passengers and crew. Boeing is redesigning a key computerized system in the plane, but questions are being raised about pilot actions as well. Officials inspect the inside of the cockpit of a Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft at Soekarno Hatta airport, Jakarta, Indonesia. Appearing before a House subcommittee earlier this month, FAA acting administrator Daniel Elwell expressed concern that pilots in both jets appeared to have made mistakes in trying to deal with the emergencies. He said he was disturbed that, based on the flight data recorder, it appeared that pilots in both planes didn't properly deal with a stabilizer trim problem early despite the issues with Boeing's faulty onboard computer system. "You don't pull out a checklist. You memorize it and you are tested on it all the time," said Elwell, formerly an American Airlines pilot for 16 years. In the case of the Boeing 737 Max, a computerized system was installed to compensate for the jet's tendency to point its nose upward because of heavier engines that were placed farther forward on the wings. It was called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS). But in the case of the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashes, pilots found themselves wrestling to keep the jetliner aloft as MCAS repeatedly switched on and pointed the nose toward the ground. The link to one of the 737 Max's automated systems raises "concerns about pilots' abilities to recognize and react to unexpected events," Transportation Department Inspector General Calvin Scovel wrote in prepared remarks for the subcommittee hearing. As for MCAS, training in it may become more common as more 737 Max simulators are rolled out. There are currently only 17 simulators for the 737 variant globally, said spokesman Paul Bergman. "We expect the number of Max simulators to more than double by year's end," he said in an email. It wasn't just the two Boeing 737 Max crashes in which trouble with automation played a role. An Asiana Airlines airliner crashed short of the runway at San Francisco International Airport in 2013 because, an investigation found, the pilots didn't thoroughly understand how the plane's automated systems worked. 90% of your flight: Automated Experts say automation has helped to make aviation one of the safest means of transportation. Because of advanced autopilot systems, for instance, aircraft save fuel by being able to fly in an optimal way. They can be landed in fog, a boon to travelers who no longer are diverted to other airports. The systems are so advanced that they can counteract bad judgments by pilots. Automated systems are switched on for about 90 percent of a typical airline trip, according to government estimates. But those same experts say pilots must not be simply monitors of a plane's automated systems but have the ability to step in with hands-on flying. Though every pilot must pass qualification exams for every type of plane they fly, the fear is they'll forget key skills at times when they need them the most. "Airlines don't teach pilots to fly. They teach procedures. Your basic core skills should be there before you get to the airline," said Bo Corby, director of standards and training for Future & Active Pilot Advisors, or FAPA, a career and financial advisory service. He said the focus for training many pilots these days is to teach them how to use the automated systems, deemphasizing basic flying skills. He said the time has come to revert to a system in which knowledge of core techniques becomes critical again. Another expert, veteran airline pilot John Cox, said it's clear that automation overall has made flying safer. The key is not to have an overdependency on it - "to be comfortable and capital of being able to fly the plane manually. That has been an industry challenge," he said. But Cox says there's more to the Ethiopian Airlines crash than just an automation issue. The pilots were confronted with a load of warnings in the cockpit, more than anyone could be reasonably expected handle, he said. "You hit a point called task saturation. You are taking in more information than you can process," Cox said. And with all those distractions, a person's cognitive ability to deal with them can drop by half. Thus, he said "automation dependence is not a cause, but it is a contributor" to the disaster. As a result, Cox said he, too, believes pilots need to strike balance between knowing the nuances of planes' automated systems while also maintaining their basic flying abilities. Trainers, Cox said, should "emphasize manual flying skills and not have a dependence on the computer, but use them as aids." Boeing's 737 Max costs $2,000 a month each for parking Models of Boeing passenger airliners are displayed during Airshow China in Zhuhai city, south China's Guangdong province. [AP PHOTO] While regulators contemplate whether Boeing Co.'s 737 Max can safely return to the skies, workers in a California airplane-storage yard keep a careful vigil against earthier concerns. Crews have sealed 34 Southwest Airlines Co. jets against the Mojave Desert's sun, wind and sand, as well as insects and birds that can creep into wheel wells and engine air inlets. Southwest declined to discuss the expense, but one industry veteran said such sojourns run about $2,000 a month for each plane - a small but critical cost amid Boeing's many looming financial penalties. The attention lavished now on the planes will help determine how fast the Max gets back in the air once a worldwide grounding is lifted. Designed to ferry throngs of travelers, the young jets' only daily visitors these days are technicians who draw fuel samples to scout for bacterial contamination. Once a week, Southwest mechanics spool up the big turbofans, boot up flight computers, and extend and retract flight-control surfaces such as wing flaps. "Planes are meant to be flying and being used,'' said Tim Zemanovic, who used to own an Arizona storage park and estimated monthly storage costs, which include labor and materials. "You've got to keep them that way even when they're in storage.'' The constant care extends to almost 500 grounded Max planes around the world, a total that includes about 100 factory-fresh jets that can't be delivered to customers because of the flying ban, which began in March after the second deadly crash in five months. Managing aircraft upkeep on such a scale is unprecedented, as Boeing grapples with a crisis that has already lopped $41.5 billion off its market value. The maintenance costs are just the start of Boeing's financial exposure. The Chicago-based planemaker also faces an estimated $1.4 billion bill for airlines' canceled flights and lost operating profit if the Max fleet is still grounded by the end of September, said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst George Ferguson. Boeing's inventory could balloon by nearly $12 billion by the end of September if regulators don't act and 737 production continues at the current pace, Ferguson said. "They can't keep building and parking planes indefinitely," he said. "We don't think it will get to that, but it's going to take a lot of cash to park those in the desert." As Boeing finalizes paperwork to certify a redesign of flight-control software linked to the two disasters, executives are laying detailed plans for the Max's eventual return to commercial flight. The team huddles daily and includes officials from the 737 program, corporate headquarters and the commercial and global-services divisions. The challenge of safely pulling hundreds of planes out of storage was among the topics discussed at a summit of global regulators convened by the Federal Aviation Administration in Texas, Daniel Elwell, the agency's acting chief, told reporters after the meeting Thursday. The Max grounding has long since passed the 60-day mark when aircraft are typically placed in long-term storage. Bringing them back to life will now involve a rigorous review that can last weeks as compared to days for planes that are parked for less than two months. As the global fleet starts to come back online, Boeing plans to set up a round-the-clock operations center to support customers. Teams of mechanics, technicians and field-service representatives will fan out to assist airlines as their jets make the "transition from storage and preservation activities to operational flight," said Doug Alder, a Boeing spokesman. Southwest, the largest Max operator, is already planning for the plane's return even though it's not clear if that is weeks or months away. "It will be a staggered-type return to service," said Gary Bjarke, director of contract services for the Dallas-based carrier. Until then, Bjarke leads the team overseeing the upkeep of Southwest's Max fleet parked on a desert plain in Victorville, California, east of Los Angeles. Southwest ferried all its Max planes to the storage yard in the days after U.S. regulators halted commercial flights. Crews spent about 80 man-hours preparing each jet for storage, and Bjarke estimates it will take about 120 hours of work to get each single-aisle plane back into flying condition. In all, he said, the maintenance checks could take about 30 days before the last of the airline's parked 737s rejoin daily operations. For German tour operator TUI AG, the logistics of managing its parked jets are more complicated. The company stored 13 Max at bases in Brussels, Amsterdam and Manchester, U.K., where its mechanics can tend to them, said spokesman Aage Duenhaupt. Another plane was stranded in Sofia, Bulgaria, with another in Spain's Canary Islands, where third-party contractors are tending to them by following Boeing's storage protocol. The tempo of care is largely set by detailed checklists provided by Boeing. Instructions for "prolonged parking" run more than 100 pages in a manual for a previous generation of 737s. There are separate procedures to prepare planes depending on whether they will be parked a week, a month, two months or a year. Basic service tasks are spelled out in similar increments. Even a simple requirement to wash an airplane is complicated by its sheer size. If a maintenance provider doesn't have a concrete pad wash area with a drain for wastewater, there's another option: wipe the plane down by hand. "Basically, use cleaning wipes," said Zemanovic, the former owner of the Arizona storage park. The manual occasionally spells out risks in colorful detail, like the bacteria or fungi that can turn jet kerosene into the consistency of "mayonnaise," clogging the fuel system if water hasn't been thoroughly drained. There are separate lists that step-by-step make the plane serviceable once its desert stay comes to an end. "They just don't park them and walk away and come back six months later," said Zemanovic, who now serves as president of Fillmore Aviation, a Minneapolis-based company that specializes in end-of-life aircraft care. "Someone's looking at them every day."