MYSTERY IN THE SKY - WTF? - MH370 & MH17 & QZ8501 & More

[Midwest Spy]

I really miss Mexico.

I went 6 different times in a 3 year span.

Flying into Mexico City is still one of my favorites.

Volcanoes all around and an exhilarating approach.

[HairOfTheDog]

The family of one of the passengers on downed Lion Flight JT64 in Idonesia has filed a lawsuit against Boeing.  I expect there will be more suits against Boeing by families of some of the other 188 killed passengers, or a class suit.

So far, the details revealed in the investigation strongly point towards the new Boeing 737 MAX 8 having a faulty auto-stall system.  In addition, Boeing's training modules and plans appeared insufficient to prepare pilots on what to do when that system misfired.

Story:  https://www.reuters.com/article/us-boein...SKCN1OP0XP

[HairOfTheDog]

Out of curiosity, I did some research on the status of some of the other downed passenger flights covered in this thread over the past 5 years.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, 239 killed on March 8, 2014:   The crash of the Boeing 777-200ER is regarded as one of the greatest unsolved aviation mysteries ever.  Conspiracy theory and reasonable speculations abound, but aviation investigators from around the world still don't know for sure and can't agree on why the plane crashed.  The search for MH370 is the costliest of its sort in history.  Pieces of the plane have turned up or been detected in various locations over the years.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_A...Flight_370

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, 298 killed on July 17, 2014:  The Boeing 777 was shot down by Russian forces occupying Ukraine, according to the final investigatory report.  The G7 (US, Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Itality and Japan) is demanding that Russia cooperate and be held accountable for the death of the 298 people on board.  A Dutch-led investigation concluded in May 2018 that the plane was struck by a Buk surface-to-air missile controlled by Russia’s 53^rd Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade based in the city of Kursk.  Russia, unsurprisingly, continues to say, "who, us?"  https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world...92591.html

Air Asia flight QZ8501, 162 killed on December 8, 2014:  The Airbus A320 plane crashed due to a rudder control system malfunction and subsequent miscommunication between the pilot and co-pilot, according to the final report. While the rudder malfunction itself likely would not have led to a crash, the voice recorder shows an apparent miscommunication between the pilot and copilot on how to address the problem. The pilot says, "pull down," but the plane was rapidly ascending at a 54-degree angle of bank, before entering a prolonged stall and plummeting into the Java Sea. https://www.flyingmag.com/technique/acci...rew-action

[Maggot]

I detect a theme.........cue the Jaws theme. The eastern world it is exploding.

[HairOfTheDog]

I miss MS around here and hope he's doing alright.  He always has a multitude of theories on crime and plane crash incidents.

Anyway, sadly, another Boeing 737 Max 8 plane crashed on Sunday.  It's the same new model plane which crashed in Indonesia six months ago, as covered just upthread.  That crash in October last year killed 189 people.

The recent crash was an Ethiopa Air flight filled with passengers from all over the world.  All 157 people on board are presumed dead.  Rest in peace.

It appears that the automated system unexpectedly pulled the nose down after take-off in both cases.

There are approximately 350 Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft in operation worldwide, being flown by 54 operators, according to the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).  Most carriers outside the U.S. have grounded the plane pending further investigation and Boeing stock is taking a massive nosedive.

Ref: https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/11/africa/ma...index.html

[HairOfTheDog]

Today President Trump officially grounded all Boeing 737 Max 8 flights.

The U.S. was the last country to ground the planes following two recent deadly crashes and several pilot complaints regarding nose dives shortly after take-off (a function/malfunction of the anti-stall system implemented in the new model).

Boeing continues to claim that the planes are safe, though they acknowledge they're addressing previously reported issues.




I saw some lists of Max 8 flights published yesterday and won't be surprised if there were lot of passenger cancellations.