Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg addresses Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 preliminary report

CAPE TOWN — When vested-interests close ranks and reassure the public that all is well, that’s often exactly the signal for just how wrong things may have gone. A case in point is Boeing admitting that a software fault was responsible for both 737 Max crashes that took 346 lives - after the entire US aviation industry closed ranks to say it was safe to fly the plane. The US was the last nation to ground the 737 Max as most other countries opted for this guaranteed, no-risk approach - long before the Ethiopian black box revealed its feared confirmation. The Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, hardly covered itself in glory. The cause of the Lion Air tragedy five months earlier, was (also) the Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System, known as MCAS, “activating in response to erroneous angle of attack information.” Boeing techno-speak for the pilot, despite following override protocols, being unable to pull out of a fatal nose dive automatically induced by the software mis-diagnosing the plane as stalling. Boeing quotes its pilots as saying MCAS dysfunction “can add to what is already a high workload environment”, opening the door for a legal argument that a pilot may have been able to over-ride the system. It’s all about reducing culpability while showing maximum contrition and restoring profitability (aka plane safety). Meanwhile budgets are surely being quietly adjusted for pre-emptive offers to victim’s relatives. - Chris Bateman