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Boeing 737 Max Saga

Boeing 737 Max Saga

Here's my explanation of this terrible tale.

MCAS is a software patch in the 737 Max flight control computer that tries to compensate for a dangerous aerodynamic instability. The instability came about due to engine choice.

Boeing used the LEAP-1B engine on the 737 Max. It's a huge diameter bypass engine and it pushed the center of gravity of the aircraft into strange territory.

Hence the aerodynamic instability. Hence the MCAS software which put pilots into a terrible situation trying figure out what was happening.

In two cases they could not, and the planes oscillated under MCAS control until they fell out of the sky.

Many people died.

Only then was the decision made to ground the plane.

The problem was not the LEAP-1B engine itself. It was the way Boeing decided to use and mount it on the 737 Max. And then they wrote the MCAS code to try and compensate for the problems.

Content written and posted by Ken Abbott abbottsystems@gmail.com