MAX - Aner vi store problemer som bygger seg opp her? - Curt Lewis

Reality Intrudes On Boeing And The FAA Boeing and its chief federal regulator continue to engage in magical thinking about the fiasco known as the 737 MAX - and reality continues to intrude. After months of insisting that its flawed best-seller would be tweaked and flying again by the end of this year, Boeing found itself weighing the cost of a review process that will extend into 2020. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that Boeing planned to either cut back or suspend production of the MAX; after a two-day board meeting, the company announced it would temporarily stop making the MAX altogether in light of the ongoing regulatory review. Boeing has pledged to avoid layoffs, but roughly 12,000 workers will be reassigned in consequence of the production halt. There is still no date in sight for when regulators might approve the upgrades Boeing is making to the fleet to fix the flawed flight-control system known as MCAS, which led to the crashes in October 2018 and March 2019 that together killed 346 people. Even when American regulators eventually give their blessing, it will not be enough. Foreign aviation authorities no longer trust our safety review process and have promised to make their own assessments before they allow the 737 MAX to fly in their airspace once more. Some regulators, including the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, have said they will also take a more proactive role in evaluating forthcoming jets from Boeing. A House committee report issued earlier this month demonstrates how right those foreign regulators are to distrust the U.S. process. In November 2018, weeks after the crash of a Lion Air MAX jet in Indonesia killed 189 people, the Federal Aviation Administration concluded in an internal analysis that the jet could be expected to have an accident on average once every two to three years - far more often than is expected or acceptable in a modern commercial airliner. Yet the FAA talked itself (and allowed Boeing to help talk it) into allowing the MAX to continue flying with no more than a cautionary briefing for pilots. A few months later, an Ethiopian Airlines jet screamed full-speed into the ground, taking another 157 lives. Rep. Peter DeFazio, the Oregon Democrat who chairs the House Transportation Committee, aptly summed it up: "Despite its own calculations, the FAA rolled the dice on the safety of the traveling public and let the 737 MAX continue to fly." The FAA (then under Acting Administrator Daniel Elwell) only got around to grounding the MAX after foreign regulators acted and President Trump ordered it. Yet new FAA chief Steve Dickson insisted to DeFazio's committee that "The system is not broken." If this is a working system for protecting passengers and crew, what would a broken system look like? The MAX is no longer a safety threat to people in the air and on the ground, which is progress. Yet the aircraft promises to wreak commercial havoc far into 2020. Domestic and foreign airlines have had to scramble and re-scramble their schedules to accommodate planes they either have and can't fly, or expected to have but can't receive. Southwest Airlines, the largest operator of the MAX, is short at least 75 planes between grounded aircraft already in its fleet and unfilled orders it had expected to receive this year. Meanwhile, Boeing has set aside more than $6 billion to compensate its customers, while its own workforce and its suppliers shoulder much of the resulting economic burden. Even the U.S. trade deficit is worse off, as one of the nation's biggest exporters can't deliver its best-selling product. Bad as all this is, the long-term reputational damage to Boeing, and to U.S. aviation in general, may prove even worse. Yet Boeing and its regulators still seem to accept reality only when it forces itself upon them. It's dispiriting to watch for those of us who closely follow corporate and government policy. At the same time, it is a fascinating public experiment in human psychology and organizational behavior. The scale of the screw-ups was so great, and the consequences so terrible, that even after more than a year the top decision-makers seem unable to appreciate what their organizations have wrought. But those of us who are not caught up in their emotional drama can see this colossal failure and its results for exactly what they are. FlyersRights Sues FAA For Refusal To Release Boeing 737 MAX Records Supported by a Team of Aviation Professionals Arguing for Transparency and Independent Analysis Before Any Decision to Unground the MAX is Made WASHINGTON, Dec. 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- FlyersRights.org, the largest airline passenger organization, has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. (1:19-cv-03749-CKK) seeking release of the Boeing Corporation's proposed changes to the 737 MAX submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). FlyersRights.org previously submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the records on November 1st seeking expedited treatment, but the FAA failed to respond. Supporting the lawsuit are seven aviation experts who declared that they need the FAA to release technical details to them and other independent experts in order to be able to evaluate whether the 737 MAX is safe to fly. Paul Hudson, President of FlyersRights.org and member of the FAA's Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee since 1993, explained, "Trust in the FAA and Boeing has been shattered due to astounding revelations of misfeasance and incompetence in originally certifying the 737 MAX aircraft as safe. Accordingly, to regain public confidence, the flying public needs and deserves independent expert evaluations of the changes that Boeing and FAA may deem sufficient to unground the aircraft." The seven aviation experts who have submitted declarations in favor of transparency and independent evaluation are: Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger- Retired airline captain, famous for the "Miracle on the Hudson" landing and aviation safety expert for over four decades Association of Flight Attendants-CWA- The largest flight attendants union, with nearly 50,000 members at 20 airlines Michael Neely- Thirty-three years of experience in commercial and military aircraft development programs since 1983, working for Boeing from 1995-2016 serving in Multi-Discipline Engineering and Program Office roles Javier de Luis- PhD Aeronautical engineer and scientist for 30 years and former lecturer at MIT Michael Goldfarb- Aviation safety management consultant and former Chief of Staff and Senior Policy Adviser to the FAA Administrator Gregory Travis- Computer software engineer with over 40 years of experience and pilot with over 30 years of experience Paul Hudson- President of FlyersRights.org and long-time airline passenger safety advocate The FOIA request can be found here: https://flyersrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/FlyersRights-10.31.19-FAA-FOIA-Expedited-Request.pdf The complaint can be found here: https://flyersrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/FlyersRights-v-FAA-Boeing-MAX-FOIA-Complaint.pdf FlyersRights.org is represented in court by Joseph E. Sandler of Sandler, Reiff, Lamb, Rosenstein & Birkenstock P.C., Washington, D.C. FlyersRights.org, established in 2007, is the largest airline passenger organization. It publishes a bi-weekly newsletter, operates a free hotline for airline passengers 877- FLYERS6, advocates for passenger rights and interests, represents passengers on the FAA Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee dealing with air safety, and maintains a staffed office in Washington, D.C. See: FlyersRights.org or https://twitter.com/FlyersRights. Media line 800- 662-1859. FlyersRights.org, 4411 Bee Ridge Road, 274, Sarasota, FL 34233 SOURCE FlyersRights.org