Reasons behind The ban on Boeing 737 MAX across the world

About The Company – BOEING

?      Boeing is the world's largest aerospace company and leading manufacturer of commercial jetliners, defense, space and security systems, and service provider of aftermarket support.

?      As America’s biggest manufacturing exporter, the company supports airlines and U.S. and allied government customers in more than 150 countries.

?      Boeing products and tailored services include commercial and military aircraft, satellites, weapons, electronic and defense systems, launch systems, advanced information and communication systems, and performance-based logistics and training.

?      With corporate offices in Chicago, Boeing employs more than 153,000 people across the United States and in more than 65 countries.

?      Boeing is organized into three business units: Commercial Airplanes; Defense, Space & Security; and Boeing Global Services, which began operations July 1, 2017.

Commercial Airplanes:-

• Boeing has been the premier manufacturer of commercial jetliners for decades.
• Today, the company manufactures the 737, 747, 767, 777 and 787 families of airplanes and the Boeing Business Jet range.
• New product development efforts include the Boeing 787-10 Dream liner, the 737 MAX, and the 777X.
• More than 10,000 Boeing-built commercial jetliners are in service worldwide, which is almost half the world fleet.

About BOEING 737 MAX

?      The Boeing 737 MAX is a narrow-body aircraft series designed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes as the fourth generation of the Boeing 737, succeeding the Boeing 737 Next Generation.

?      This 737 series was publicly announced on August 30, 2011.

?      The 737 MAX series has been offered in four variants, typically offering 138 to 230 seats and 5,954 to 7,084 km range.

Background of Launching BOEING 737 MAX

?      On December 1, 2010, Boeing's competitor, Airbus, launched the Airbus A320neo family to improve fuel burn and operating efficiency with new engines.

?      In February 2011, Boeing's CEO Jim McNerney maintained "We're going to do a new airplane.

?      On July 20, 2011, American Airlines announced an order for 460 narrow body jets including 130 A320ceos and 130 A320neos, and intended to order 100 re-engined 737s with CFM LEAPs, pending Boeing confirmation.

The order broke Boeing's monopoly with the airline and forced Boeing into a re-engined 737.

Launch of BOEING 737 MAX

?      On August 30, 2011, Boeing's board of directors approved the launch of the re-engined 737, expecting a fuel burn 4% lower than the A320neo.

?      On December 8, 2015, the first 737 MAX—a MAX 8 named Spirit of Renton—was rolled out at the Boeing Renton Factory.

?      The first delivery was a MAX 8, handed over to Malindo Air (a subsidiary of Lion Air) on May 16, 2017.

Introduction of BOEING 737 MAX

?      The first delivery was a MAX 8, handed over to Malindo Air (a subsidiary of Lion Air) on May 16, 2017; it entered service on May 22.

?      Norwegian Air subsidiary Norwegian Air International was the second airline to put a 737 MAX into service, when it performed its first transatlantic flight with a MAX 8 named Sir Freddie Laker on July 15, 2017 between Edinburgh Airport in Scotland and Bradley International Airport in the US state of Connecticut, followed by a second rotation from Edinburgh to Stewart Airport, New York.

Boeing 737 Max 8 Specifications

?      It is 39.2m in length and 12.2m in height, with a wingspan of 35.9m.

?      It has a range of 3550 nautical miles and can carry 210 passengers onboard.

?      The engine on the aircraft is a LEAP-1B made by CFM International, which has a thrust range of 23,000–28,000 pound-force.

?      The same engine features on all other 737 MAX aircrafts. The Boeing aircraft costs a whopping $121mn - $200mn.

Which airlines were using Boeing's 737 max 8

Accidents and incidents

Lion Air Flight 610 crash:

• On October 29, 2018, Lion Air Flight 610, 737 MAX 8 registration PK-LQP, plunged into the Java Sea 13 minutes after take off from Soekarno–Hatta International Airport, Jakarta, Indonesia.
• The flight was a scheduled domestic flight to Depati Amir Airport, Pangkal Pinang, Indonesia.
• All 189 on board died. This was the first fatal aviation accident and first hull loss of a 737 MAX.
• The aircraft had been delivered to Lion Air two months earlier.

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash:

• On March 10, 2019, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, 737 MAX 8 registration ET-AVJ, crashed approximately six minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,[on a scheduled flight to Nairobi, Kenya.
• Killing all 149 passengers and 8 crew members on board.
• On May 18, 2019, Boeing admitted that flaws in 737 MAX simulator software made the system unable to reproduce flight conditions that contributed to the crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia.

The real reason Boeing's 737 max 8 crashed twice

Airbus is the biggest competitor of Boeing and they had already launched Airbus A320Neo which was a new geared turbo fan engine and is expected to provide better fuel efficiency of around 15%. So to compete with their main competitor, Boeing planned to launch BOEING 737 MAX 8 aircraft.

Main difference between B737 Max & A320Neo:

1. For both the aircraft the engine were under the wing of the aircraft. But for Boeing 737 max, the engine were more lower to the ground compare to A320Neo.
2. Boeing 737 Max has less room under the wing compare to A320Neo.
3. Boeing 737 max's landing gear was small.

Compare to Airbus A320Neo, Boeing had faced several problems in the design of the engine of the aircraft of 737 max. Finally they have figured out the issue of engine design. In the new aircraft they have moved the engine little front and slightly upward and renamed the model as 'BOEING 737 MAX 8'.

At that time the market share of Boeing increased to 38% while Airbus had the market share of 28%

Side effects of Boeing 737 Max 8

• During the takeoff (4th thrust) of the flight, the takeoff path was too high as compare to the safe zone.
• Angle of attack (AoA) was too high for 737 Max 8 model

• Due to the position of the engine, the flight had to face the issue of 'Center of Gravity' which used to cause the dis balance of the aircraft during flying.
• Boeing also introduced a software called The 'Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System' (MCAS) which is a feature of a Boeing 737 MAX flight control system that attempts to mimic pitching behavior similar to the Boeing 737 NG, especially in low-speed and high angle of attack (AoA) flight. It adjusts horizontal stabilizer trim to bring the aircraft nose down when it detects that the aircraft is in imminent danger of entering an aerodynamic stall, based on input from airspeed, altitude and angle of attack sensors.

• Due to unawareness of the working to that particular 'MCAS' software, pilots had to face the difficulties of sudden nose down during flying and they were unable to disable the effect of 'MCAS'.
• The pilots were not given proper training abou the working and the functions of 'MCAS' Software. Even the working of it was not mentioned in the flight manual. Only it was mentioned in 'MAX 8 Operational Manual' in page number 452.

What happened to Lion Air flight 'JT610'

JT610's pilots were facing problem immediately after takeoff from Indonesia's capital city Jakarta. They asked permission to air traffic controller (ATC) for landing back to Jakarta airport. But due the technical problem they had lost the connection with ATC. By the mean time the flight crashed into Java sea.

The investigation team suspects 'Black Box' as the main evidence behind the crash. But they were unable to find it as it lost into Java sea.

Later on the investigation team came up with the reasons behind the crash from the flight data recorder-

• JT610 had faced a sudden fall in altitude.
• It had a problem in 'Angle of Attack' sensor. Due to that the aircraft had to face a huge air pressure in the nose.
• Also it had a problem in the function of 'MCAS' software.

What happen to Ethiopian airline flight ET302

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport in Ethiopia to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya. On 10 March 2019, the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft which operated the flight crashed near the town of Bishoftu six minutes after takeoff, killing all 157 people aboard.

The pilot were getting the warning that the aircraft was about to stall. The stall happens due to the problem in Angle of Attack. The AoA should be minimum for a safe flight. But if it is more than 10 degrees, then the aircraft has to face the stall which leads the flight to stop moving forward fast enough to stay airborne. 

Boeing 737 max’s AoA sensor is installed on the outside of the plane to keep track of the angle at which wind is passing over it’s wings. For ET302, the AoA sensor malfunctioned when the plane was actually flying correctly. The sensor informed the MCAS software that it’s nose was too high. Immediately after getting the update, MCAS start working to get back the flight in stabilized condition by lowering the nose. But it actually push the plane into dive and the flight start losing it’s altitude. The pilot then switched off the computer system and tried to control the flight manually. They had put a lot effort but the plane kept diving. Finally after 6 minutes of takeoff the plane dived into ground.

Effect of ban of Boeing 737 Max 8 in India

?      In India, DGCA ordered the immediate grounding of all Boeing 737 MAX.

?       No 737 Max aircrafts are allowed to take off or pass through the Indian airspace.

?      In India, Boeing 737 Max 8s are operated by two airliners - Jet Airways and SpiceJet.

?      Jet Airways owns five of these planes, but all of them were previously grounded due to the airline's financial troubles.

?      SpiceJet had stopped the operation of 12 Max 8 aircraft.  

Conclusion

?      Boeing 737 Max 8 planes grounded in most countries.

?      US plane manufacturer staring at huge losses.

?      The Chicago-based company's stocks have been falling sharply in the Dow Jones Industrial Index, down over 6.4 per cent.

?      Negative sentiments emanating from fresh restrictions on Boeing 737 Max 8 planes have even affected the overall sentiments of US stock markets.

?There's No Alternative to the Boeing 737 MAX

?Airbus already challenged the 737 by creating a new clean sheet design with the A320Neo.

?Russia are busy working on their answer to the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft and are planning to debut their development the Irkut MC-21.

Future Scope

• The company said it would issue a software update that would include changes to MCAS, pilot displays, operation manuals and crew training.
• Boeing met with more than 200 global airline pilots, technical leaders and regulators to brief them on the planned 737 MAX software solution.
• Boeing completed the first engineering flight with Boeing test pilots to evaluate the updated MCAS software. Results provided to engineers and specialists to further enable software development processes.
• Boeing hosted FAA pilots in our engineering flight simulator to review specific flight conditions and scenarios.
• The FAA identified an additional requirement during simulator sessions reviewing specific flight conditions and scenarios. Boeing will address this requirement through updated software changes.

References

1. www.boeing.com