Safety Matters Foundation

Boeing’s design change process:mindFly

March 18, 2019June 24, 2021

All aircraft, engines, and propellers must meet and maintain minimum standards for design, material, construction, quality of work and performance before they can be produced and operated. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) requires each contracting state to adopt airworthiness standards for the design and performance of aeronautical products. States must ensure that aircraft, including components (engines and propellers), meet these airworthiness standards. ICAO allows states to accept a product approved by another ICAO contracting state without further showing, or to validate another country’s determination that a product meets airworthiness standards.

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COVID or evacuation, when does fear set in?

Amit Singh @mindFly

March 17, 2019June 24, 2021

Why does fear set in when our plan fails? Had we acted in advance, there wouldn't have been panic.

How is the Ethiopian Airline accident different from Lion Air: mindFly

Amit Singh @mindFly

March 17, 2019June 24, 2021

The Ethiopian Airlines accident on 10th March 2019 was the 2nd B-737 Max accident in 4 months. This created a public outcry about the safety of Boeing 737 around the world and given the fact that Boeing had not been forthcoming in its disclosure of the new software, MCAS.All countries flying the B-737 had to ground the aircrafts flying in their airspace and the last but not the least the FAA very reluctantly followed suit. Every one tried to draw similarities between the accidents stating that the flight profile was similar and that both the aircrafts nose dived shortly after takeoff. For the first time in the history of aviation that the entire fleet around the world had been grounded on the basis of public perception and without any evidence. This also showed the lack of trust that the regulators of all the countries had with FAA and Boeing.

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ET302 takeoff roll could have answers to the cause of accident: mindFly

Amit Singh @mindFly

March 15, 2019June 24, 2021

In my opinion the primary cause of the ET302 accident lies in the take off roll , the final nose dive could have been caused due to structural failure of the elevator and in an extremely improbable case, the infamous MCAS would have had a role to play. All aircrafts are loaded with passengers, cargo and fuel and maintained within limits of the centre of gravity so that a safe takeoff, airborne segment and landing is carried out. Based on the weight and balance of the aircraft and the airport/runway and environmental conditions, the flight crew calculate how fast the aircraft needs to roll on the runway (speed) and how much engine thrust needs to be generated in order to accelerate with the given mass and other conditions to allow the wings to generate lift from the air mass flowing over the wings. All these parameters have to keep the aircraft takeoff roll within the runway length and after getting airborne keep clear of the obstacles like hills, buildings etc. around the airport.

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Production vs Protection,India to fly the Max despite announcing the grounding plan: mindFly

Amit Singh @mindFly

March 13, 2019June 24, 2021

It seems that the notorious MCAS may not be the primary cause of the accident of the Ethiopian Airline B-737 max. I was consoling myself that its never too late for India to announce the grounding of B-737 Max after every other country had done so. India reluctantly followed suit. The ministry of civil aviation proudly tweeted that the DGCA had decided to ground the B-737 Max. The honourable minister also tweeted about the same and wrote about passenger safety and zero tolerance. Good to hear about passenger convenience too.

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Not MCAS but lack of trust grounds B737Max worldwide:mindFly

Amit Singh @mindFly

March 12, 2019June 24, 2021

The notorious MAS which was suspected by many to be the cause of the Lion Air accident in 2018 end may not be the cause in the Ethiopian Airlines ET302 accident. The reason why the big regulators like UK, France, Singapore, Australia and many other are imposing a ban on the B-737 Max to even enter their airspace points to a lack of trust in FAA and Boeing and the actions taken by them in the past. Read my blog "A question of safety or ethics" There was a legal case in the USA in early 2018 where the court had overruled the immunity clause that manufacturers had enjoyed for design defect. The court also documents that Boeing has been aware of known design defects in their aircrafts.

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After ET302,FAA admits MCAS is there and issues notification:mindFly

Amit Singh @mindFly

March 12, 2019June 24, 2021

It took FAA 4 months and a second B-737 accident before admitting the presence of MCAS on board the B-737 Max aircraft. On 11th March 2019 FAA has issued a continued airworthiness notification which includes MCAS design enhancements, Training of flight crew and documentation. All these have to be implemented by April 2019. For the first time since the Max has been released to service will the pilots be able to access information on the notorious MCAS officially. Isn't that a big relief?

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