New flaw discovered on Boeing 737 Max, sources say

ATLANTA - A new flaw has been discovered in the computer system for the Boeing 737 Max that could push the plane downward, according to two sources familiar with the testing, an issue that is expected to further delay the aircraft's return to service. A series of simulator flights to test new software developed by Boeing revealed the flaw, according to one of the sources, report Shimon Prokupecz, Drew Griffin and Gregory Wallace for CNN. Continue reading original article

The Intelligent Aerospace take:

June 28, 2019-After a coup at the Paris Air Show - Boeing announced it would be selling hundreds of MAX jets to the parent company of British Airways - it was more bad news for Boeing as the FAA announced that its pilots had uncovered a possible flaw in a microprocessor in the aircraft which could result in the plane's nose being pushed down towards the ground. It isn't currently known if the microprocessor played any role in the pair of deadly crashes involving the MAX jets in late 2018 and early 2019

When testing the potential failure of the microprocessor in the simulators, "it was difficult for the test pilots to recover in a matter of seconds," one of the unnamed sources told CNN. "And if you can't recover in a matter of seconds, that's an unreasonable risk."

Boeing said in a statement that the Federal Aviation Administration "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."

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Jamie Whitney, Associate Editor
Intelligent Aerospace