<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">On Friday, 'Pilot X' and 400 pilots kicked off a fascinating follow-up to this saga:</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-23/over-400-pilots-join-lawsuit-against-boeing-over-737-max/11238282">[ABC] Boeing sued by more than 400 pilots in class action over 737 MAX's 'unprecedented cover-up'</a><br><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">"<span style="font-size:0.875rem">They [the pilots filing the lawsuit] argue that they 'suffer and continue to suffer significant lost wages, among other economic and non-economic damages' since the fleet's global grounding.</span><span style="font-size:0.875rem">.. </span><span style="font-size:0.875rem">By seeking damages for monetary and mental distress, the pilots lodging the class action said they hoped to 'deter Boeing and other airplane manufacturers from placing corporate profits ahead of the lives of the pilots, crews, and general public they service'."</span></div><div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div>And, what exactly are they targeting? Automation.</div><div><br></div><div>"<span style="font-size:0.875rem">The claim brought against Boeing hinges on the controversial addition of an automated piece of software known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS). </span><span style="font-size:0.875rem">Pilot X claimed that this gave the aircraft 'inherently dangerous aerodynamic handling defects'.</span></div><div><span style="font-size:0.875rem"><br></span></div><div>For the curious, here's how the software introduced to the legacy systems creates complicated <span style="font-size:0.875rem">complexity</span><span style="font-size:0.875rem">:</span></div><div><br></div><div>"<span style="font-size:0.875rem">The reason for this handling quirk was by design, as Boeing made the decision to retrofit newer, large fuel-efficient engines onto an existing 737 model's fuselage, in order to create the MAX. </span><span style="font-size:0.875rem">The larger engines caused a change in aerodynamics which made the plane prone to pitching up during flight, so much so, that it risked a crash as a result of an aerodynamic stall. </span><span style="font-size:0.875rem">To stop this from happening, Boeing introduced MCAS software to the MAX, which automatically tilted the plane down if the software detected that the plane's nose was pointing at too steep of an angle, known as a high Angle of Attack (AOA)."</span></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Mar 18, 2019 at 2:41 PM PHILIP SCRANTON <<a href="mailto:scranton@scarletmail.rutgers.edu">scranton@scarletmail.rutgers.edu</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">This is a stunning, yet wholly sensible, thread. When I was researching the development of early US military jet engines, over a decade ago, engineering studies and project histories showed that any substantial technical change ramified through the whole device in unanticipated ways. Such vectors took years, if not decades, to bring under control, one element in which was project discipline in handling/accepting proffered design change requests, in part because repeated changes created maintenance and spare parts miseries. Cold War era jet engines did stabilize after multiple redesigns, though few lasted anywhere near 50 years, except perhaps in the B52 propulsion systems. It makes sense that airframes experienced comparable upgrades, with ambiguous implications.<div> Best regards, Phil Scranton <br><div><div><br>On Sunday, March 17, 2019, Nathan Schneider <<a href="mailto:Nathan.Schneider@colorado.edu" target="_blank">Nathan.Schneider@colorado.edu</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><u></u>
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<p dir="ltr">Really interesting discussion here on whether and why the 737 has been in continuous development for 50 years, including regulatory and market dynamics:</p>
<p dir="ltr">A 50-year-old design came back to haunt Boeing with its troubled 737 Max jet - <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19414164" target="_blank">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19414164</a></p>
<p dir="ltr">This discussion also touches on other such cases, like the Soyuz and NYC subway and firearms and unix.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><br>
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Nathan Schneider<br>
Assistant Professor, Media Studies<br>
University of Colorado Boulder</p>
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</div><br><br>-- <br><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div>Philip Scranton, Emeritus Board of Governors Professor, History of Industry & Technology,<br></div>Rutgers University;</div><div>Author, Enterprise, Organization and Technology in China: A Socialist Experiment, 1950-1971<br></div><div>Palgrave Macmillan (2019). BOOK LINK: <a href="https://www.springer.com/us/book/9783030003975?wt_mc=ThirdParty.SpringerLink.3.EPR653.About_eBook#aboutBook" target="_blank">https://www.springer.com/us/book/9783030003975?wt_mc=ThirdParty.SpringerLink.3.EPR653.About_eBook#aboutBook</a><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br>
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