Not Okay
737 Max 8 grounded, banned from airspace
"All the planes are grounded, effective immediately, okay?"
The argument: New more powerful engines were placed in the Boeing 737 Max 8 which was designed to take 35% more passengers than the previous model, the Boeing 737 800. This was done to compete with the (often unprofitable) Airbus A380. These new more powerful engines can push the nose of the plane up causing the engines to stall. Because of this, the MCAS software was put into the planes. This software, however, can pitch the plane down, automatically, when its instruments detect the nose rising. This, in turn, can lead to pilots who were not originally informed of this system's presence to point the plane up with a fight ensuring between the human and the computer.
"Their problem was they forgot to tell the pilots about it," says Aviation Safety Consultant Keith Mackey.
The Boeing 737 Max 8 holds 200 passengers, plus the pilot, co-pilot and cabin attendants...
Yet, they forgot to inform the pilots that the planes they were flying had a new software that might cause the planes to do something that planes they had flown previously (for years) would never do?
This is an explanation you certainly relate to in our own workplace. The photocopier was unplugged but you weren't informed and so you waited unnecessarily long for it to turn on. It caused you to fall behind. The deep fryer wasn't turned on and you weren't informed, so the frozen potatoes just sat in cold oil while the customers with growing impatience broadcast your incompetence on Facebook Live. You became an instant celebrity. There was a really important meeting, but your coworkers forgot to inform you. You no longer trust your coworkers.
The ball gets dropped. We get that. ‘Getting it’ leads to closure so we move onto the next story. There are other stories. There is more to process. Maybe a bear or a toddler will do something adorable in the ICYMI segment.
But, wait, when the lives of 200+ people are at stake, when key players are kept out of the loop, it means industry regulations related to certain types of innovation are being ignored, or they don’t exist.
"All the planes are grounded, effective immediately ...okay?"
No. That the pilots were not informed, or that they did not receive training, should not be the end of the discussion. It should be the very opposite of that.
"Their problem was they forgot to tell the pilots about it," says a bozo.
No. It is not their problem.