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Not when American airliners are flying the same exact plane. The UK has just grounded all their Boeing 8s
So much for western countries not caring about foreign crashes.
Brexit aside (I have no idea how that impacts the Airbus vs Boeing debate in the UK), the conspiracy theorist in me would say this is a way to legally subsidize Airbus. I wouldn’t be shocked to see France and Germany follow suit.
I don’t think it’s fair to lay blame on Boeing just because two similar accidents happened within 5 months (no offense to all of the casualties). There was no conclusion that the crash in Indonesia half a year ago was due to the fault of Boeing.
Believe me, the US Airlines would not want a 3rd crash and would it would not "pay off" to keep the plane flying...
Sure they would. That is why we haven't seen them grounded here yet. The airlines won't do it on their own. I guarantee you that the bean counters have ran the math. And they are rolling the dice and betting on a fix being found and nothing happening. Or in a worst case scenario, that a crash and the liability payouts would not exceed the revenues from continuing in service. Think the infamous Ford Pinto disaster. It's more or less the same school of thought.
As far as loss of business and goodwill? I doubt that will be anything more than negligible. A generation or two ago, that may have been the case. But not now. We love our precious little 1500 mile trips to lay on the beach too much to give them up. Also, most people are willing to "take their chances".
It would take not one, but a series of catastrophes to break through and alter this apathetic mindset. I mean come on. Look at the TSA rigmarole and indignity we put up with. Spirit Airlines has attracted more vitriol and anger than pretty much every airline combined. Yet their planes remain full. Look at the the United Airlines dragging incident. That SHOULD have been a PR and financial disaster. Yet it was forgotten after maybe five minutes and it was right back to business as usual.
Don't kid yourself. This is a nonissue here. And don't think for a second that the airlines aren't keenly aware of this. Like I said...it would take three, four, or ten crashes in the span of a week to really change the travelling publics attitude.
The Airbus isn't automated. But think of their software as traction control or anti skid for cars. It allows the driver to get the max performance out of the car. You can pull full back in an Airbus and it will never stall. It's pretty amazing. The software alleviates the human from the more mundane tasks and allows them to focus on bigger picture things.
That’s what I thought until Air France 447 happened. The pilot kept pulling the stick back instead of pushing it forward. Crashed!
In the Lion Air crash, air speed sensor failed. The Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) put the plane into a nose down attitude (to regain lift to correct the loss of airspeed, reported incorrectly by the broken sensor)...and it crashed. According to Boeing, this problem had occurred before, without crashing by simply turning the MCAS system off. Boeing was supposed to have made this information available to all airlines, but apparently the word did not get out.
This is somewhat similar to another Ethiopian Airlines crash in January of 2010 that involved a Boeing 737-8AS, it is a NG variant. Flight 409 from Beirut Lebanon to Addis Ababa Ethiopia crashed into the Mediterranean sea off the Lebanese coast shortly after take-off. Investigators determined that the flight crew mismanaged the aircraft's speed, altitude and heading, and the flight control inputs were inconsistent, which resulted in the loss of control of the aircraft. They were also trying to go around a storm.
Some countries have said they do not want the plane "landing" in their country as the issue could happen in their air space and threaten the safety of people on the ground.
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You can love or hate Trump but here is his latest tweet.
Donald J. Trump
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Airplanes are becoming far too complex to fly. Pilots are no longer needed, but rather computer scientists from MIT. I see it all the time in many products. Always seeking to go one unnecessary step further, when often old and simpler is far better. Split second decisions are....
Yes I read that today, Even the UK has decided the Max cannot use their airports.
Two problems.....1. What is causing bad data to start process. 2. Pilot response has to be almost automatic low to the ground, no time to circle and trouble shoot.
Typically that little yellow autopilot disconnect throws planes into manual pilot ops. You can imagine the guys who didn't get the memo and have no idea that MCAS system is still running in the background with a 3,000lb hydraulic pump behind it pushing the nose over after autopilot unhook. I guarantee their brains were fried if this is the scenario. Airbus and Boeing have had differing philosophies when it all hits the fan. Airbus has typically given major control over to computers, Boeing the majority back to pilots. Apparently Boeing has hedged on this plane, and we shall know much more shortly.
I realize this post may not be a good comparison of scenarios but, as a Power Plant Operator with 34 years in the field, there's nothing like having old school manual ops experience, precisely when automatic controls fail or go to manual. Sadly, there's often an over dependence on automatic controls amongst younger less experienced fellow operators. When systems or equipment fail to function in auto, there is a definite "brain frying/deer-in-the-headlights" moment that hits us all, yet more so amongst younger Operators. I can only imagine how such a scenario is exponentially magnified at 36,000 feet.
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