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COST SAVINGS VERSUS REDUNDANT SYSTEMS: THE CASE OF THE BOEING 737 MAX DEBACLE.
Academic Journal
It is difficult to find an issue of The Wall Street Journal published in 2019 or the early months of 2020 without one or more articles covering various aspects of the 737 MAX grounding stemming from two fatal crashes of the aircraft. This paper covers a number of failures that have been reported as likely contributing to the two fatal crashes. These failures included making "angle-ofattack- sensor" redundancy and other safety features optional upgrades for its Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) that is a cost saving measure, possibly insufficiently experienced pilots flying the 737 MAX planes that crashed, the lack of pilot training and training manuals covering the MCAS newly installed in the 737 MAX, and the failure of the FAA to conduct a sufficiently independent safety review of the aircraft before flight certification, although there are disagreements over whether or not there was a FAA failure that contributed to the two 737 MAX plane crashes. Also, Boeing's responses are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]