737-Max controversy, Bad Software and a lot more....

An employee walks down a stairway leading to a Boeing 737 MAX airplane on March 14, 2019, in Renton, Washington.*

Being in the software industry for more than 2 decades, i confidently say that Bad software is never a problem, but always a symptom of something more serious. 

In this case of 737-Max controversy, greed and a tendency to retain their market, whatever be the cost ( now it is 40 billion in the red and counting).

Here is a summary of what i understood. I recommend that the article as a must read.

1. Airbus and Boeing are two major manufacturers and competitors 
2. Introducing a new plane is an expensive and time consuming process. In addition to the time taken to design and build a plane ( which is typically more than a decade), FAA approval and pilot training all adds time and cost to the process
3. AirBus introduces the Neo engine which is more fuel efficient and Boeing doesn’t have an equivalent offering in its portfolio
4. Boeing’s design prevents them from replacing the existing engine with a more fuel efficient engine
5. Best solution would have been to work on a newer Airplane
6. Boeing is a major employer and has a powerful lobby in Washington
7. Boeing goes ahead and decides to plug in a new engine to the existing 747 body though it kept talking about 5
8. It is no longer the same plane and the aerodynamics are different. This plane has a different angle of attack
9. But you can’t beat the laws of physics and a software is introduced to handle the complications introduced by step 7
10. FAA is understaffed and important steps in validation and verification are done by Boeing themselves
11. Also remember the pressure brought in by a company's loss looked upon as the country's loss
12. Since everyone assumes it is the same plane design training is limited to what can be done on a tablet ( iPad )
13. Pilots do complain, but it is overlooked 
14. A cockpit light is introduced to warn pilots when the angle of attack sensors disagreed
15. But then the light is made optional and costs 80,000 USD
16. Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines buy it without the light

The article explaining the 737-Max scandal can be read here.

* Image Source - the Vox article