Just a week after making positive news with its 737 MAX 8 aircraft, new reports say that a whole new problem in the plane could also send it into an unrecoverable nosedive.
interestingengineering.com
Нашли проблему с микропроцессором, которая может вызвать пикирование самолета
The FAA Does Its Job
This latest microprocessor flaw was detected when government pilots working with the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) tested the effects of a microprocessor failure in the
737 MAX 8's computer. During these tests, pilots found that once the microprocessor failed, the plane would start pitching forward and if they did not intervene quickly, the plane would go into an unrecoverable nosedive.
"It was difficult for the test pilots to recover in a matter of seconds," one source
told CNN. "And if you can't recover in a matter of seconds, that's an unreasonable risk."
The
FAA would not confirm the specific issue when
CNN contacted them for comment, but the
FAA did tell them that "the FAA's process is designed to discover and highlight potential risks. The
FAA recently found a potential risk that Boeing is required to mitigate."
Boeing didn't specifically cite a microprocessor failure in a statement the company released yesterday but did confirm that the FAA had identified an "additional requirement" during flight simulator tests that involved runaway stabilizer trim, and that Boeing agreed that it needed to be fixed.
"The safety of our airplanes is Boeing’s highest priority. During the FAA’s review of the 737 MAX software update and recent simulator sessions, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) identified an additional requirement that it has asked the company to address through the software changes that the company has been developing for the past eight months," the company's statement said.
"The FAA review and process for returning the 737 MAX to passenger service are designed to result in a thorough and comprehensive assessment," they added. "Boeing agrees with the FAA's decision and request, and is working on the required software. Addressing this condition will reduce pilot workload by accounting for a potential source of uncommanded stabilizer motion. Boeing will not offer the 737 MAX for certification by the FAA until we have satisfied all requirements for certification of the MAX and its safe return to service."
Whether a software fix alone will be sufficient or whether Boeing will have to physically replace all of the microprocessors in question on all of the existing airplanes stuck in aircraft hangers around the world is unclear. Whatever fix will ultimately be required, given the circumstances, it appears that the
FAA is putting Boeing's
737 MAX 8 through the kinds of rigorous testing that it didn't do the first time around.
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