Tag: software (Page 5 of 5)

FAA Convenes Review Board for Boeing Software Fix

May 7, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Federal Aviation Administration said on Tuesday it had convened a multi-agency Technical Advisory Board to review Boeing’s proposed software fix on the grounded 737 MAX.

The board consists of experts from the FAA, U.S. Air Force, NASA and Volpe National Transportation Systems Center that were not involved in any aspect of the Boeing 737 MAX certification. The board’s recommendations will “directly inform the FAA’s decision concerning the 737 MAX fleet’s safe return to service.”

The plane was grounded worldwide in mid-March after two Boeing 737 MAX crashes in October and March killed 346 people.

Boeing, which has yet to formally submit the software fix to the FAA for approval, did not immediately comment Tuesday on the new review.

Some in Congress have urged the FAA to conduct an independent review into the anti-stall system at the center of investigations into two deadly plane crashes before allowing the planes to resume flying.

The board known as TAB will assess Boeing’s proposed fix to the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), the FAA said.

“The TAB is charged with evaluating Boeing and FAA efforts related to Boeing’s software update and its integration into the 737 MAX flight control system. The TAB will identify issues where further investigation is required prior to FAA approval of the design change,” the FAA said.

The world’s largest planemaker, facing its worst crisis in years and the worldwide grounding of its top-selling jetliner, has said its software upgrade and associated pilot training will add layers of protection to prevent erroneous data from triggering MCAS.

The system activated in the Ethiopian Airlines crash in March and also during a separate Lion Air crash in Indonesia in October.

There are a number of other reviews ongoing, including a blue-ribbon committee appointed by Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao looking at the FAA’s aircraft certification process.

Federal prosecutors, the Transportation Department’s inspector general and lawmakers are investigating the FAA’s certification of the 737 MAX 8 aircraft.

A separate joint review by 10 governmental air regulators started last week and is expected to last about 90 days, but the FAA has said that a decision on ungrounding the plane is not contingent on that review being completed.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

FAA Mandates Changes to Boeing 787 Dreamliner

May 1, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

SEATTLE (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday said it was mandating new flight control software and parts to Boeing Co’s 787 Dreamliner to address what it called an unsafe operating condition of certain products on the plane.

The FAA’s airworthiness directive to plane operators makes compulsory changes Boeing outlined in service bulletins in 2017 and early 2018 for certain areas in 787’s tire and wheel “threat zones” that may be susceptible to damage, the company said.

Boeing, which works closely with the FAA to monitor its fleet for potential safety issues, said: “This issue has been long since resolved with system improvements that have been incorporated into production for all 787 models.”

The FAA said damage to the 787’s tire and wheel “threat zones” could result in the loss of braking and steering power on the ground at certain speeds.

The FAA said it requires installing hydraulic tubing, a pressure-operated check valve and new flight control software.

(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; editing by James Dalgleish and Cynthia Osterman)

Boeing Supplier Spirit AeroSystems Suspends Outlook

May 1, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

(Reuters) – Boeing Co’s largest supplier Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc reported strong first-quarter results on Wednesday, while following the planemaker in suspending its full-year outlook in the face of the global grounding of 737 MAX jets.

The crisis with Boeing’s most popular aircraft has thrown into doubt orders for a raft of parts makers who have been investing heavily to meet record-breaking demand from the world’s biggest planemaker over the past two years.

Spirit, which makes fuselage, structural engine components and wing parts for the MAX, did a deal with Boeing last month to stick to its current parts delivery schedules for now, and its profits in the first quarter were up 30 percent, according to Wednesday’s quarterly results.

Boeing however has announced cutbacks in its monthly production of MAX jets to 42 from 52 and while it says it is nearing certification for a software fix for the jet, airlines are assuming the planes will not be back in the air before August.

Spirit said with the uncertainty around MAX production it could not stand by its previous full-year outlook which had factored production for MAX jets rising to 57 units per month in June.

“As we now expect to remain at 52 aircraft per month for some period of time, (prior) guidance does not reflect our current outlook,” Spirit Chief Executive Officer Tom Gentile said, adding he was waiting for more clarity from Boeing on MAX’s return to service.

MAX’s other major supplier General Electric Co, which makes engines with Safran SA of France, on Tuesday stuck to its full-year forecasts, while highlighting risk due to MAX’s reduced production.

Another MAX supplier United Technologies Corp last month included an up to 10 cents per share impact in its full-year profit outlook from the groundings of the jet, assuming Boeing produced at 42 aircraft per month for the rest of the year.

Spirit, whose shares are down about 10 percent since the fatal crash of the Ethiopian Airlines’ jet on March 10, rose as much as 3.5 percent to $89.96 in morning trade.

“Given that (Spirit’s) shares have already notably sold off, we think much of this … has been discounted into the price,” Vertical Research Partners Krishna Sinha said.

The company said it has taken actions including deferring capital investments and pausing hiring and share repurchases to mitigate the financial impact of the MAX production change.

On an adjusted basis, Spirit earned $1.68 per share, beating analysts’ average estimate of $1.64 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Total revenue rose 13.4 percent to $1.97 billion (£1.51 billion), beating estimates of $1.93 billion.

(Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)

United Airlines First-Quarter Profit Rises

April 17, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

FILE PHOTO: A United Express Embraer ERJ-175LR airplane is pictured at Vancouver’s international airport in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, February 5, 2019. REUTERS/Ben Nelms

(Reuters) – United Airlines on Tuesday reported a better-than-expected jump in first-quarter profit as it sold more tickets and cut costs, standing by its 2019 profit target even as its Boeing Co 737 MAX jets remain grounded.

Chicago-based United has removed its 14 MAX aircraft, which were suspended worldwide in March following two fatal crashes, from its flying schedule through early July, eating into U.S. airlines’ peak summer travel season.

Still, the airline’s parent United Continental Holdings Inc reiterated its estimate for adjusted earnings of $10 to $12 per share in 2019, and said its strategy for scheduling more flights out of its hubs was continuing to win customers.

Adjusted earnings per share rose to $1.15 in the first quarter, ending March 31, from 49 cents a year earlier, overcoming a U.S. government shutdown and severe winter weather earlier this year that curtailed flights.

Wall Street analysts on average had forecast 95 cents per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Its shares rose 2.8 percent in after-hours trading.

United has largely avoided cancelling MAX flights by servicing those routes with larger aircraft, but President Scott Kirby warned last week that the strategy could not last indefinitely.

The airline, which has been adding seats at a faster pace than rivals, trimmed its 2019 capacity growth target to between 4 percent and 5 percent from 4 percent to 6 percent previously, but did not say whether the decision reflected the effect of the grounded MAX.

Total operating revenue rose 7.1 percent to $8.73 billion in the quarter, while closely watched revenue per available seat mile rose 1.1 percent.

In the second quarter, United said it expects unit revenue to rise between 0.5 percent and 2.5 percent while unit costs, which fell 1.8 percent in the first quarter, were expected to be flat to 1 percent higher.

The No. 3 U.S. carrier is the first of three U.S. 737 MAX operators to report first-quarter results. Southwest Airlines Co and American Airlines Group Inc, which have removed their MAX jets from schedules into August, report on April 25 and April 26 respectively.

A Federal Aviation Administration review board said on Tuesday that it found a Boeing software update for the MAX to be “operationally suitable,” suggesting the lengthy regulatory process to get the planes back in the air was underway.

Rival Delta Air Lines Inc, which does not operate the 737 MAX, lifted its 2019 revenue forecast last week after reporting better-than-expected quarterly profit.

(Reporting by Tracy Rucinski in Chicago; Additional reporting by Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru; Editing by Bill Rigby)

Five Decades Ago, Boeing’s 727 Jet Also Had A Terrible Start

March 25, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

OTTAWA (Reuters) – As Boeing Co and global airlines work to restore public confidence in the 737 MAX after two deadly crashes, they will have a play book they can use.

This is not the first time that Boeing has faced a crisis after launching a new plane with innovative technology. In 1965, three Boeing 727-100 passenger jets crashed in less than three months in the United States while coming into land, killing a total of 131 people.

Like the 737 MAX, the three-engined 727 was billed as one of the most advanced aircraft of its time. Boeing introduced the 727 in 1964 and portrayed it as a more efficient alternative to the standard four-engine jets of the day, with new features designed to make the 727 easier to operate from short airfields.

The 727’s wing flap system, which provides extra lift at low speeds, was unusually large and sophisticated, which allowed the plane to descend more quickly than other rivals and avoid buildings and other obstacles close to runways.

Investigators looking into the crashes discovered that some pilots did not fully understand the flap system and were therefore allowing the planes to descend at too great a speed.

“There was nothing wrong with the airplane… (but) if you didn’t really pay a lot of attention to it you could build up an immense sink rate,” said Bill Waldock, a professor of safety science at the U.S-based Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He uses the 727 accidents as part of a case study.

Aviation authorities ordered more training for pilots but allowed the planes to keep flying despite calls from some politicians to ground them.

Boeing made some modifications to the flight manual and to the procedures for flying the airplane on final approach.

In the case of the 737 MAX 8, Boeing is working on software and training updates. [L3N21C0FP]

Alan Hoffman, a U.S. aviation historian and retired transportation lawyer who has researched the 727 accidents, said given the publicity over the recent crashes, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration would only allow the 737 MAX 8 planes to fly again if the regulator is convinced the fixes worked.

“The airplane will go back into service and unless something else crops up there will be no further problems and a year from now this will all be a dim distant memory,” he predicted by phone from St Louis, Missouri.

Boeing was not immediately available for comment.

In contrast to the swift grounding of the 737 MAX 8 after the recent second accident, just two days after the third fatal 727 crash, in November 1965, the Civil Aeronautics Board said there was no reason to ground the plane.

“It passed very rigid certification tests … before it was put into service and nothing has turned up in our investigation to cause us to doubt its stability,” the board said.

Those words did not immediately reassure many travellers. Indeed, passengers had started to boycott the airliner after the crashes began.

“For a period of six months or so a lot of 727s were flying with half full cabins,” Waldock said by phone from Prescott, Arizona. Still, the 727 crisis passed.

The plane eventually became one of Boeing’s best sellers and was in widespread use for another 30 years. By 2003, virtually all had been retired as airlines moved away from the 727’s loud and thirsty engines.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; editing by Joe White and Cynthia Osterman)

Boeing Invites Pilots & Regulators to 737 MAX Briefing

March 25, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

SINGAPORE/ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Boeing Co said it invited more than 200 airline pilots, technical leaders and regulators for an information session on Wednesday as it looks to return the 737 MAX to commercial service.

The meeting is a sign that Boeing’s planned software patch is nearing completion, though it will still need regulatory approval.

Over the weekend, Ethiopian Airlines executives had questioned whether Boeing had told pilots enough about “aggressive” software that pushes the plane’s nose down, a focus of investigation into a deadly crash in Ethiopia this month that led to the global grounding of 737 MAX jets.

The informational session in Renton, Washington on Wednesday is part of a plan to reach all current and many future 737 MAX operators and their home regulators to discuss software and training updates to the jet, Boeing said in a statement.

Garuda Indonesia, which on Friday said it planned to cancel its order for 49 737 MAX jets citing a loss of passenger trust after the crashes, was invited to the briefing, CEO Ari Askhara told Reuters on Monday.

“We were informed on Friday, but because it is short notice we can’t send a pilot there,” he said, adding the airline had requested a webinar with Boeing but that idea had been rejected.

A Boeing spokeswoman said the Wednesday event was one of a series of in-person information sessions.

“We have been scheduling and will continue to arrange additional meetings to communicate with all current and many future MAX customers and operators,” she said.

Garuda has only one 737 MAX and had been reconsidering its order before the Ethiopian crash, as has fellow Indonesian carrier Lion Air, which experienced a deadly crash in October.

Singapore Airlines Ltd said on Monday its offshoot SilkAir, which operates the 737 MAX, had received the invitation to the Wednesday event and would send representatives.

Korean Air Lines Co Ltd, which before the grounding had been due to receive its first 737 MAX in April, said it planned to send pilots to Renton.

The 737 MAX is Boeing’s best-selling plane, with orders worth more than $500 billion at list prices.

Teams from the three U.S. airlines that own 737 MAX jets participated in a session in Renton reviewing a planned software upgrade on Saturday.

A U.S. official briefed on the matter Saturday said the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has not yet signed off on the software upgrade and training but the goal is to review them in coming weeks and approve them by April.

It remained unclear whether the software upgrade, called “design changes” by the FAA, will resolve concerns stemming from the ongoing investigation into the March 10 Ethiopian Airlines crash, which killed all 157 on board.

“After the crash it came to our attention that the system is aggressive,” Yohannes Hailemariam, vice president for flight operations at Ethiopian, told local reporters speaking in the Amharic language.

“It gives a message of stalling and it takes immediate action which is faster than the action which pilots were briefed to take by Boeing,” said Yohannes, himself a pilot with over 30 years of experience, including flying Boeing’s 777 and 787.

The U.S. official said planned changes included 15 minutes of training to help pilots deactivate the anti-stall system known as MCAS in the event of faulty sensor data or other issues. It also included some self-guided instruction, the official added.

American Airlines said Sunday it will extend flight cancellations through April 24 because of the grounding of the 737 MAX and cut some additional flights.

(Reporting by Jamie Freed in Singapore and Jason Neely in Addis Ababa; additional reporting by Cindy Silviana in Jakarta, Heekyong Yang in Seoul, Tracy Rucinski in Chicago and David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Chris Reese and Michael Perry)

Garuda Indonesia Plans to Cancel Boeing 737 MAX 8 Order

March 22, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

JAKARTA/OSLO (Reuters) – Indonesian airline Garuda plans to cancel a $6 billion order for Boeing 737 MAX jets, it said on Friday, saying some passengers would be frightened to board the plane after two fatal crashes, although analysts said the deal had long been in doubt.

The news came as another 737 MAX customer, Norwegian Air, played down the significance of a move by Boeing to make a previously optional cockpit warning light compulsory.

Norwegian said that, according to Boeing, the warning light would not have been able to prevent erroneous signals that Lion Air pilots received before their new 737 MAX plane crashed off Indonesia in October, killing 189 people.

Indonesia’s national carrier Garuda is the first airline to publicly announce plans to scrap an order since the world’s entire fleet of 737 MAX planes was grounded last week, following an Ethiopian Airlines crash that left 157 people dead.

“Many passengers told us they were afraid to get on a MAX 8,” Garuda CEO Ari Askhara told Reuters on Friday.

However, the airline had been reconsidering its order for 49 of the narrowbody jets prior to the Ethiopian crash, including potentially swapping some for widebody Boeing models.

Southeast Asia faces a glut of narrowbody aircraft like the 737 MAX and rival Airbus A320neo at a time of slowing global economic growth and high fuel costs.

“They have been re-looking at their fleet plan anyway so this is an opportunity to make some changes that otherwise may be difficult to do,” CAPA Centre for Aviation Chief Analyst Brendan Sobie said.

Indonesia’s Lion Air has also said it might cancel 737 MAX aircraft, though industry sources say it is also struggling to absorb the number of planes on order.

Both crashes are still being investigated. But regulators have noted some similarities between the two, and attention has focused on whether pilots had the correct information about the “angle of attack” at which the wing slices through the air.

No direct link has been proven between the accidents.

RETROFITS

Boeing now plans to make compulsory a light to alert pilots when sensor readings of the angle of attack do not match – meaning at least one must be wrong -, according to two officials briefed on the matter.

Investigators suspect a faulty angle-of-attack reading led the doomed Lion Air jet’s computer to believe it had stalled, prompting the plane’s anti-stall system, called MCAS, repeatedly to push the plane’s nose down.

The Lion Air plane did not have the warning light installed because it was not compulsory. Ethiopian Airlines did not immediately comment on whether its crashed plane had the alert.

But the Ethiopian carrier, whose reputation along with Boeing’s is at stake, issued a statement on Friday emphasising the modernity of its safety and training systems, with more than $500 million invested in infrastructure in the past five years.

The Ethiopian crash has set off one of the widest inquiries in aviation history and cast a shadow over the Boeing 737 MAX model intended to be a standard for decades.

Boeing did not comment on the plan to make the safety feature standard, but separately said it was moving quickly to make software changes and expected the upgrade to be approved by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in coming weeks.

Chicago-based Boeing will also retrofit older planes with the cockpit warning light, the officials told Reuters.

Experts said it could take weeks or months to be done, and for regulators to review and approve the changes. Regulators in Europe and Canada have said they will conduct their own reviews of any new systems.

Norwegian said its 18 737 MAX jets did not have the cockpit warning light, but it would follow any recommendations made by Boeing and aviation regulations. The airline said last week it would seek compensation from Boeing for the cost of grounding its 737 MAX planes, which makes up 11 percent of its fleet.

Since the Ethiopian crash, Boeing shares have fallen 12 percent and $28 billion has been wiped off its market value.

Pressure has mounted on the company from U.S. legislators, who are also expected to question the FAA. The company faces a criminal investigation by the U.S. Justice Department as well.

Several lawsuits have already been filed on behalf of victims of the Lion Air crash referring to the Ethiopian accident. Boeing declined to comment on the lawsuits.

( By Cindy Silviana and Terje Solsvik, Additional reporting by Jamie Freed in Singapore, Bernadette Christina Munthe in Jakarta, Maggie Fick and Jason Neely in Addis Ababa, Tim Hepher in Paris, and Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Writing by Sayantani Ghosh, Georgina Prodhan and Ben Klayman; Editing by Mark Potter)

Letter from Dennis Muilenburg to Airlines, Passengers, and the Aviation Community

March 19, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

We know lives depend on the work we do, and our teams embrace that responsibility with a deep sense of commitment every day. Our purpose at Boeing is to bring family, friends and loved ones together with our commercial airplanes—safely. The tragic losses of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 and Lion Air Flight 610 affect us all, uniting people and nations in shared grief for all those in mourning. Our hearts are heavy, and we continue to extend our deepest sympathies to the loved ones of the passengers and crew on board.

Safety is at the core of who we are at Boeing, and ensuring safe and reliable travel on our airplanes is an enduring value and our absolute commitment to everyone. This overarching focus on safety spans and binds together our entire global aerospace industry and communities. We’re united with our airline customers, international regulators and government authorities in our efforts to support the most recent investigation, understand the facts of what happened and help prevent future tragedies. Based on facts from the Lion Air Flight 610 accident and emerging data as it becomes available from the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 accident, we’re taking actions to fully ensure the safety of the 737 MAX. We also understand and regret the challenges for our customers and the flying public caused by the fleet’s grounding.

Work is progressing thoroughly and rapidly to learn more about the Ethiopian Airlines accident and understand the information from the airplane’s cockpit voice and flight data recorders. Our team is on-site with investigators to support the investigation and provide technical expertise. The Ethiopia Accident Investigation Bureau will determine when and how it’s appropriate to release additional details.

Boeing has been in the business of aviation safety for more than 100 years, and we’ll continue providing the best products, training and support to our global airline customers and pilots. This is an ongoing and relentless commitment to make safe airplanes even safer. Soon we’ll release a software update and related pilot training for the 737 MAX that will address concerns discovered in the aftermath of the Lion Air Flight 610 accident. We’ve been working in full cooperation with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Transportation and the National Transportation Safety Board on all issues relating to both the Lion Air and the Ethiopian Airlines accidents since the Lion Air accident occurred in October last year.

Our entire team is devoted to the quality and safety of the aircraft we design, produce and support. I’ve dedicated my entire career to Boeing, working shoulder to shoulder with our amazing people and customers for more than three decades, and I personally share their deep sense of commitment. Recently, I spent time with our team members at our 737 production facility in Renton, Wash., and once again saw firsthand the pride our people feel in their work and the pain we’re all experiencing in light of these tragedies. The importance of our work demands the utmost integrity and excellence—that’s what I see in our team, and we’ll never rest in pursuit of it.

Our mission is to connect people and nations, protect freedom, explore our world and the vastness of space, and inspire the next generation of aerospace dreamers and doers—and we’ll fulfill that mission only by upholding and living our values. That’s what safety means to us. Together, we’ll keep working to earn and keep the trust people have placed in Boeing.

Dennis Muilenburg
Chairman, President and CEO
The Boeing Company

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