Environmental News

Local Seattle television news displayed this step at least twice yesterday alone. Two toggles, can even flip both with a single finger motion if so desired. Then start rolling back on the stabilizer trim wheel.

Prior Seattle news, just after Lion Air, indicated that this step was already in the flight manual and training routine for prior 737 models, for reasons predating MCAS. MCAS adds additional scenarios for which this is the indicated action. I haven't yet had time to find updates to that theme.

I will bet that the optional AOA fault indicator light, which Southwest Airlines elected to have installed on their units, becomes mandatory. And that already being a step ahead on this, Southwest will likely be among the first to have these planes back in the air, though additional remedies will likely be mandated.

 

whether it's planes following to close behind a landing airliner - hours permitted for pilots (jet or truck) to continually operate, or placement of a stop sign .... all rules are written in Blood - & serve to diminish it getting spilled further.
It wasn't too long ago (on only a slight tangent), that there was a technical program on tv regarding Airline speeds generally slowing down. In part, it was brought up that these massively wide fan blades serve efficiency well, but at the same time limit higher speeds. Efficiency/ fuel savings is the bottom line in the airline industry. If Aerospace can get a major flying disaster like the military's V-22 offpray to stay afloat, you can be sure Boeing's airliner design will survive.
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read this morning that boeing has been 'improving' the 737 for fifty years, because it is easier to meet faa standards than starting from scratch. but they may have bitten off more than they can chew in this latest revision in the interest of fuel savings.

moving the larger engines causes the plane to stall, which the software corrects, relying on two sensors. but it can then cause it to dive, and happen at speeds too high for pilots to have time to manually correct.

 

Lots more detail, in a story line that started before the latest crash:

Seattle Times: Flawed analysis, failed oversight: How Boeing, FAA certified the suspect 737 MAX flight control system

 

reminds me a bit of the toyota u/a problem. but the faa seems to be complicit, and i don't think they proved toyota at fault, only possible at worst.

i have seen a number of former faa people and university aeronautics professors claim this is all much ado about nothing.
follow the money?

 

age-old scenario. Fox put in charge of the hen house.
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i read another article saying that boeing had a software patch and the planes would be back in the air in ten days. say what?!? i won't be on one.

 

It was just some 18 years ago that anorher plane (Alaska flight) went down because the tail's jackscrew was worn. Scenario was, the Douglas MD-83 engineers, under pressure from the powers above, set how frequently they had to be inspected. More blood brought more frequent inspections.


It's the age-old game, time is money. Get it back up. Can you spell "Challenger-disaster"? nothing new.
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bloomberg: 'FAA employees warned as early as seven years ago over safety approvals for new aircraft, prompting an investigation by department of transportation auditors who confirmed the agency hadn't done enough to hold boeing accountable.'

seems to me that an investigation of the FAA is due, with potential criminal charges.

 

Will France Be the First Glyphosate-Free Wine Region in the World?
As consumers worry about traces of the weed killer in their food, French President Emmanuel Macron has proposed eliminating its use in France by 2022
Will France Be the First Glyphosate-Free Wine Region in the World? | News | News & Features | Wine Spectator


A smiling Emmanuel Macron sampled French wines at the Paris Agricultural Show and remarked that he believes vintners can lead the way in eliminating glyphosate use.

 

I used round up for years. We were taught in aggie school that it was just salt, and harmless to humans.

But then, my wife has used Johnson’s baby powder for years.

 

French wine gimmick to forestall the Takeover by Two Buck Chuck.

11K + possibly related cancer cases out of 2 billion + users eating fruits grains & vegetables that got sprayed ... as opposed to pestilence that limits World Food Supplies via shortages or high costs. Hey, how do I want to go. Starve to death? Or cancer in my late 70s. Decisions decisions. As they say, pick your poison.
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boeing purchased a full page ad today, basically telling us not to worry. instead of fixing the problem.

 

Our flight out to Nashville in a few weeks - maybe we can get discounts as Test volunteers? I do like me a bargain - as long as the FAA executive folk that cozied up to Boeing go with us.

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With any luck they can push a technical fix, do some extra training, get first in line for a round of proper independent certifications for re-introducing the model in a few months, pay a few billion in direct settlements, fire the board & turn over upper management (the ones that escape criminal prosecution, anyway) tough out 8-10 bad quarters and then get on with things.

 

In the Lion Air case, when the plane went out of control in the immediately prior flight, an off-duty third pilot deadheading in the cockpit was a major contributor to its recovery:

"That extra pilot, who was seated in the cockpit jump seat, correctly diagnosed the problem and told the crew how to disable a malfunctioning flight-control system and save the plane, according to two people familiar with Indonesia’s investigation.
... The so-called deadhead pilot on the earlier flight from Bali to Jakarta told the crew to cut power to the motor driving the nose down, according to the people familiar with the investigation, part of a checklist that all pilots are required to memorize."

For unknown reasons, the presence of this third pilot wasn't revealed until today.

Extra pilot saved doomed Lion Air jetliner on next-to-last flight | The Seattle Times
Boeing 737 Max 8: Extra pilot averted disaster on previous flight - report - CNN