"- A component of the main electric trim system became inoperative. Our pilots ran the appropriate checklist, which included manually trimming the aircraft. They returned to MIA and landed uneventfully. The issue was not related to MCAS."<p>Indeed. This was a part failing on an aircraft in flight. It landed without incident, and was likely never in any sort of danger. Losing electric trim is an annoyance but also trims safety margins by, as I understand it, making autopilot impossible. So, it's good that they returned.<p>If this had happened on a 767 or A320 we'd never have heard about it.
I sympathize with the engineers there.<p>It's like a bug that will not go away in some software. You think you've fixed it and all seems well and you get a good nights sleep with the gleam of satisfaction in your eyes.<p>But the next day your manager says "That bug is still there".<p>You incredulously do not believe that bug report and go to replicate it yourself.<p>And surely, under some edge weird case scenario, it really happened.<p>You put the fix in and uneasily sleep the next night. You actually dreamed about the issue. And wake the morning with no reports.<p>Over the next weeks and months, its all good. No new reports. and your mind has turned to some new projects. Surely that bug has been squashed.<p>And then one day...<p>I feel their pain. It's not the same, because lives and reputations are at stake. It's so much worse.But I feel their pain.
Boeing has lost the public trust not only in the US, but internationally.<p>Inherent instability aside, fact remains the general perception is that Boeing retrofitted engines too large for 50yr plane design necessitating structural modifications which compromised its flight worthiness. As a result, software had to be written to compensate for this, which unbelievably, relied on input from a single sensor--iow, single point of failure.<p>The lost of trust is further exacerbated by the fact that Boeing/FAA knew there was high probability of another crash after the first catastrophic incident but refused to ground the planes continuing to let them fly while issuing deceptive public statements regarding the planes safety.<p>Boeing's largest market is China, which justifiably, will not allow the 737 to fly within their territory.
- A component of the main electric trim system became inoperative. Our pilots ran the appropriate checklist, which included manually trimming the aircraft. They returned to MIA and landed uneventfully. The issue was not related to MCAS.
"- A component of the main electric trim system became inoperative. Our pilots ran the appropriate checklist, which included manually trimming the aircraft. They returned to MIA and landed uneventfully. The issue was not related to MCAS."<p>I don't get it. It is common for other airliners to rely systematically on trimming? Do other airliners have similar 'correcting' systems as MCAS?
So if the situation came, where the plane was at the edge of its flight envelope and needed to use MCAS (or whatever its called now), it wouldn't have been able to use it, causing the plane to stall? Thats a lot more serious then.