SEATTLE: A Boeing Co software fix for the grounded 737 MAX will prevent repeated operation of an anti-stall system at the centre of safety concerns and deactivate it altogether if two sensors disagree widely, two people familiar with pilot briefings said.
The anti-stall system – known as MCAS, or Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System – has been pinpointed by investigators probing October’s fatal Lion Air crash and faces new scrutiny in the wake of another fatal accident in Ethiopia.
Those accidents, which killed nearly 350 people, triggered the worldwide grounding of Boeing’s flagship 737 MAX aircraft and ignited a debate over the proper balance between man and machine in piloting the latest version of the 50-year-old 737.
