Boeing finalising software update to fix 737 Max 8’s flight control system

The announcement was made after Ethiopia's Transport Minister said data recovered from the Ethiopian Airlines plane showed that the March 10 crash had "clear similarities" with the October crash in Indonesia 

Chicago: After two fatal air crashes in the span of a few months, Boeing Co has said it is finalising the development of a software update and revision of pilot training regarding the flight control system — MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System) — in its 737 Max. The new upgrades are aimed at addressing how the MCAS responds to erroneous sensor inputs, the planemaker said in a statement.

"Boeing is finalising its development of a previously-announced software update and pilot training revision that will address the MCAS flight control law's behaviour in response to erroneous sensor inputs," Dennis Muilenburg, President and CEO of the US aircraft manufacturer, was quoted as saying.

Similarities in two air crashes

Muilenburg made his announcement after Ethiopia's Transport Minister Dagmawit Moges claimed that the data recovered from the Ethiopian Airlines plane's flight data recorder demonstrated that the March 10 crash, which killed all 157 people on board, had "clear similarities" with the October crash in Indonesia, during which Lion Air crashed and killed 189 people aboard. Both the aircrafts were 737 Max 8.

The flight control system, MCAS, is an automated safety feature on the aircraft designed to disallow the plane from entering into a stall, or losing lift. While flying the Max 8 jet, various pilots had spoken out about unintended nose-down situations, according to the US federal database. Following the Ethiopian Airlines crash, there has been a worldwide ban on Boeing 737 Max flights.