Originally Posted by
retired guy
HI BD
I think the three basic fixes to MCAS were developed long ago. It’s just that loss of confidence in FAA is slowing down approval. Past tense is appropriate because by the time it’s recertified, which it will be, the Max Will be the most tested airplane ever- maybe more than Concorde. You have no evidence that it’s “vapour ware”- apart from a hunch?
here is some well reasoned commentary from a couple of sources. Looks good to me.Boeing’s worst ever nightmare just got even worse with an announcement from the company yesterday that its own best estimates for ungrounding of the plane by the FAA have been shifted back to mid-2020.
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Hi retired guy,
I know that there has been some extensive work done on MCAS, but I am also aware that there are still sitting 600+ aircraft sitting on the ground with MCAS V1 loaded on their FCC. The term "vapor ware" is assigned in the software world to software releases that are announced but then delayed again and again which is a which is pretty good description on what happens with the FCC software release containing the MCAS fix.
Further, until now, there is still lacking an official description of exact system behaviour of MCAS V2 - only rumors - or did I miss something here?
I do know there are rumors about latching so a single trigger event and reduced authority but nothing detailed. But I would have some very detailed questions here. E.g. what would be the conditions to allow triggering for second MCAS event. What does happen in case of a AOA disagree in flight or even worse, during active MCAS intervention - software wise and procedure / check-list wise. Until now, no information whatsoever. Also no information about the position of regulators on the sufficiency of these measures. However we do know some regulators were critical about the two vane design. While there has been reports of "new" problems, like trim forces, cable position and initialization hick-ups, it is still hush-hush about the actual status of the "not-an-anti-stall"-system.
So if this entire sad story - by first estimations the planes should have been back flying since June last year - shows one thing: There is no fix until the plane is ungrounded, not only in the US but also in Europe and in China.
I am still sure this will happen - but calling the affair settled and refering to it in past tense is still a bit early in my humble opinion.