Originally Posted by
etudiant
The absence of any visible progress in resolving the MAX grounding more than 4 months after it was instituted is disconcerting.
Not only has there been no formal public discussion of the issues, there is not even an agreement as to which issues need to be addressed among the various regulators.
Unless there is tremendous activity well hidden and below the surface, the prospects for an early 2020 reentry into service do not look good. That raises the question of at what point the airlines throw in the towel on this model?
To achieve control over the situation so one can move on to defining a timeline, Boeing needs to start showing a lot of humility on the issue.
First they need to come up with fixes for everything regulators and forums have questioned so far:
- Yes, fix MCAS with more aoa inputs, more sw controls and maybe less activation, as they have somewhat agreed to.
- Reverse Primary and Backup switches back to the NG of automatic on/off and electruic trim on/off.
- A solution for the manual balance wheel that suits all pilot strenghts, like a geared solution.
- A couple of aerodynamical fins stuck onto the fuselage for the press to take pictures of.
- Some additional protection for rudder cables where they pass the engines.
- Improved documentation and minimum 1 sim session per pilot.
(Feel free to add to (not subtract from) this list of what changes Boeing minimum must do to get a speedy agreement for a return of the plane formerly known as Max to service in a way the public will fly with it.)
Unless they do, this can go on forever since then Boeing is leaving their fate up to regulators in the form of civil servants with no feeling of urgency.
They'll be testing and discussing these issues until they all are 100% sure fixes are not needed, which most likely will be never.
Public Service moves slowly ref the 1 year time limt for final accident reports, or alternatively if not complete, a status update once a year. And the longer they look the more they'll find.
Maybe it will take a new Boeing senior management to eat that much humble pie. This last important step would already be done if Chairman and CEO wasn't one and the same.