Originally Posted by
FCeng84
Thoughts on Seattle Times article published Sunday morning Seattle time
A second point that did not come through particularly clearly in the Seattle Times article is that the pending MCAS software update has been in the works at Boeing since shortly after the Lion Air accident. As the data for the Ethiopian accident is not yet available (or maybe just came available) nothing that Boeing would be getting out the 737MAX fleet over the next couple of weeks could possibly be based on the most recent event. I'm sure that the team at Boeing will be evaluating the ET accident data as soon as they are able to see (1) if MCAS played any role in this accident, and (2) if MCAS did play a role, how would MCAS have behaved differently had the proposed updates been in place.
The FAA has stated that " The grounding will remain in effect pending further investigation, including examination of information from the aircraft’s [ET] flight data recorders and cockpit voice recorders." There is no current timeframe or defined endpoint to that investigation. However, with Ethiopia now saying that there are strong similarities between both events, is that sufficient for Boeing to proceed?
The press coverage and viral responses are not comparable to any other sequence of accidents for any other type. References to the Electra, Comet, DC-10 do not apply - these events went viral reaching an amazingly broad audience world-wide and the politically charged actions will have an impact (has airspace ever been closed to any other type?).