Boeing tests new software on additional 737 MAX flights
http://www.hrlnews.com/2019/04/boeing-tests-new-software-on-additional.html
US aircraft maker Boeing has carried out additional test flights with
737 MAX aircraft with updated software as part of preparations for
certification, reported Sputnik news agency, quoting the company’s press
service.
“Boeing continues to make steady progress on the path to
certification, having completed the official engineering test flight of
the software — the final technical flight test prior to the
certification flight. Overall, our talented test pilots have made 146
737 MAX flights totaling roughly 246 hours of air time with the updated
software, and nearly 90 per cent of our 50-plus MAX operators around the
globe have experienced that software update themselves during one of
our simulator sessions,” the press service said.
Earlier in the month, Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg said
that new anti-crash software on 737 Boeing MAX jets had successfully
completed trial runs on 120 test flights with a total duration of 230
hours.
US Federal Aviation Administration’s flight standardisation board
examined the company’s software update and found it to be “operationally
suitable” and recommended that pilots undergo additional training in
the new system.
Two Boeing 737 MAX aircraft have crashed over the past six months —
one in Indonesia in October 2018 and another in Ethiopia in March. In
the wake of the latest crash, aviation authorities and carriers around
the world have either grounded all 737 MAX series aircraft or closed
their airspace to them.
The investigations into the incidents are underway but experts
believe that the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System could
be behind the crashes.