Re: Boeing 737 and 737 MAX software

[robin.vowels@gmail.com]

On Saturday, June 29, 2019 at 9:45:46 AM UTC+10, Paul Rubin wrote:
> Dennis Lee Bieber <w.......@ix.netcom.com> writes:
> > 	Unless things have changed severely -- GE Aviation (formerly Smith's
> > Aerospace, formerly Lear Siegler) produces the 737 FMS software (and also
> > the processor boxes).
> 
> Don't know if this is the FMS but it sounds like things may have changed:
> 
> https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-28/boeing-s-737-max-software-outsourced-to-9-an-hour-engineers
> 
> It remains the mystery at the heart of Boeing Co.’s 737 Max crisis: how
> a company renowned for meticulous design made seemingly basic software
> mistakes leading to a pair of deadly crashes. Longtime Boeing engineers
> say the effort was complicated by a push to outsource work to lower-paid
> contractors.
> 
> The Max software -- plagued by issues that could keep the planes
> grounded months longer after U.S. regulators this week revealed a new
> flaw -- was developed at a time Boeing was laying off experienced
> engineers and pressing suppliers to cut costs.
> 
> Increasingly, the iconic American planemaker and its subcontractors have
> relied on temporary workers making as little as $9 an hour to develop
> and test software, often from countries lacking a deep background in
> aerospace -- notably India.

The basic issue behind this problem (and that of the Airbus's 3xx series)
is that the pilot should be able to take control.
In both types of plane, the pilot could do nothing with the controls
when the software malfunctioned.