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Airbus Pulls Anniversary Book Over Fraud Probe Concerns

PARIS (Reuters) – Airbus has halted sales of a new book that the planemaker had commissioned for its 50th anniversary to avoid hampering the manufacturer’s attempts to win a settlement in a bribery probe, two people familiar with the matter said.

The move is the latest sign of tension in Airbus as it nears the climax of a roughly $400 million, four-year internal probe carried out in support of an Anglo-French investigation into the use of intermediaries to win jetliner and other deals.

Airbus has already fired more than 100 people over ethics and compliance issues as its probe has progressed.

The book, “Airbus: The First 50 Years”, written by former New York Times journalist Nicola Clark, charts the rise of Airbus against challenging odds to become a European rival to Boeing and has a chapter focusing on the probe.

Sources said Airbus hoped to present its findings to the UK Serious Fraud Office and France’s PNF police by the end of the year. By doing so, they said it would seek more leniency under a system of prosecution agreements that allows for heavy fines rather than charges that might bar it from public contracts.

The two people said Airbus halted the book’s sales because it was concerned its official links to the publication could hamper talks with the authorities or discussions over other litigation as it seeks a fresh start under new management.

Airbus confirmed it had decided not to go ahead with the commissioned book, but denied any link to the bribery probe. It declined comment on the progress of the investigation itself.

“We continue to co-operate in full with the ongoing investigation,” an Airbus spokesman said. “The investigation and the book are two separate topics”.

Clark told Reuters she was “deeply disappointed with the very belated decision by Airbus to withdraw (the book)”.

UK-based publisher Urbane Publications declined to comment.

The book stems from an unusual initiative launched in 2016 under which Airbus granted Clark unprecedented access and full independence to give an unvarnished account of 50 years of industrial co-operation just as Europe’s political unity wavers.

It was published on Amazon’s Kindle service on May 29, half a century after Airbus was launched at a meeting of Franco-German founders including Roger Beteille, who died last month.

The book was quickly withdrawn from online sale and plans to distribute already-printed copies at the Paris Airshow in June were scrapped at the last minute, casting confusion over the company’s 50th anniversary celebrations.

But copies have been circulating and a review was published by Leeham News, a website covering the aviation industry.

Airbus said the version seen by the public was a draft. “The draft wasn’t consistent with our ambition for celebrating 50 years of pioneering progress,” the Airbus spokesman said.

Clark said Airbus had not described the book as a draft before notifying her of the decision to withdraw it.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Edmund Blair)

FILE PHOTO: An Airbus A350-1000 performs during the 53rd International Paris Air Show at Le Bourget Airport near Paris

Unraveling The Boeing 737 MAX Lion Air Crash

(Reuters) – The crash of a Boeing Co 737 MAX jet in Indonesia on Oct. 29 has raised questions on whether the manufacturer shared enough information with regulators, airlines and pilots about the systems on the latest version of its popular narrow-body plane.

The jet operated by budget carrier Lion Air crashed into the Java Sea shortly after take-off from Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board.

WHAT IS NEW ON THE 737 MAX?

The most hyped features of the 737 MAX compared with its predecessor, the 737NG, are more fuel-efficient engines.

But as a result of the larger engines, which are placed higher and further forward of the wing, the jet’s balance changed. To address that, Boeing put in place more anti-stall protections, Leeham Co analyst Bjorn Fehrm said in an online post.

An automated protection system called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) kicks in when the angle of attack is too high, when the plane’s nose is too elevated, threatening a stall.

WHAT IS ‘ANGLE OF ATTACK’?

On paper, it measures the angle between the air flow and the wing. But it is so fundamental to flight that historians say the only instrument on the Wright Brothers’ first aircraft was a piece of yarn designed to measure it.

If the angle of attack is too high, the airflow over the wing is disturbed, throwing the plane into an aerodynamic stall.

One of two angle of attack sensors on the Lion Air jet was faulty, according to Indonesian investigators.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) last week warned airlines that erroneous inputs from those sensors could lead the jet automatically to pitch its nose down even when autopilot is turned off, making it difficult for pilots to control.

WHICH AIRLINES OPERATE THE 737 MAX?

Boeing has delivered 241 of the jets to customers since it entered service last year, according to its website.

Major operators include Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, Norwegian, Lion Air, Air Canada, China Southern, China Eastern and flydubai.

Another 4,542 have been ordered but not yet delivered.

WHAT DID AIRLINES AND PILOTS KNOW ABOUT THE SYSTEM?

Lion Air’s flight manual did not contain information about the new anti-stall system, according to investigators and an airplane flight manual seen by Reuters. U.S. pilots were also not made aware in training courses, pilot unions say.

American Airlines said it was “unaware” of some of the functionality of the MCAS system. [L4N1XQ23Q]

Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg told Fox Business Network on Tuesday that Boeing provides “all of the information that’s needed to safely fly our airplanes”.

HOW WOULD A PILOT SHUT OFF THE SYSTEM?

Pilots can stop the automated response by pressing two buttons if the system behaves unexpectedly, the FAA says.

That action is set out in a checklist used by Lion Air pilots for in-air troubleshooting, an instructor said. It is also required to be committed to memory by pilots.

Pilots on a flight from Jakarta to Bali the day before the crash experienced a similar sensor issue but managed to land safely by turning off the system, the New York Times reported.

HOW WAS THE SYSTEM APPROVED?

The FAA holds the main responsibility for certifying Boeing jets and training programs for pilots, but local regulators also issue approvals for airlines based in their countries.

An unresolved question is how Boeing measured the system’s reliability and on what basis the FAA certified it as safe.

HOW ARE PILOTS TRAINED?

An FAA document on training requirements for 737 MAX pilots transitioning from the older 737NG has no reference to the new anti-stall system.

Lion Air says it followed a training regime approved by U.S. and European regulators. The training was restricted to three hours of computer-based training and a familiarization flight.

However, Brazil’s regulator told Reuters that it had required specific training for pilots on the anti-stall system.

WHAT HAS CHANGED SINCE THE CRASH?

Boeing last week issued a bulletin to airlines reiterating existing procedures and advising them to add information on the anti-stall system to flight manuals, which was quickly followed by an FAA directive making that mandatory.

The FAA and Boeing are studying the need for software changes, as well as revisions to training and operating procedures on the 737 MAX, the regulator said.

WHEN WILL THE FIRST REPORT ON THE CRASH BE RELEASED?

A preliminary report will be released on Nov. 28 or 29, according to Indonesian investigators. However, divers have yet to locate the airline’s cockpit voice recorder, which would shed light on pilot interactions that are important for gaining a fuller picture of the circumstances of the crash.

(Reporting by Jamie Freed in Singapore, Tim Hepher in Paris, David Shepardson in Washington, Eric M. Johnson in Seattle, Tracy Rucinski in Chicago and Marcelo Rochabrun in Sao Paolo; Editing by Dan Grebler)

Image from www.boeing.com