Boeing may shop for $1bn to fix stall prevention system on 371 grounded B 737 MAX
Whereas the analysis of the signals contained in the two recovered black boxes of the ill-fated Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed all 157 on board last week lingers, Boeing weekend, started a 10 day roll out of upgrade to the MCAS stall prevention system for 737 MAX.
Two credible sources have told AFP.
However, neither source was able to specify the cost of the upgrade, but one analyst estimated it would cost about $2 million for each plane for a total of less than $1 billion for the 371 planes in use currently.
The sources revealed that the system was implicated in the crash of a 737 MAX 8 in Indonesia in October even as they cautioned that the cause of the fatal Ethiopia Airlines accident last weekend has not yet been determined.
Boeing said the software fix, which was already underway prior to the latest incident, will only take about two hours to install, said the sources, who asked not to be identified.
For global safety concerns, the MAX aircraft have been grounded worldwide in the wake of Sunday’s crash near Addis Ababa that killed 157 passengers and crew, and Boeing has halted deliveries of its top-selling model.
The black boxes from the Ethiopian aircraft, which was only a few months old and crashed a few minutes after takeoff, are being analyzed by the French authorities to try to determine the cause of the accident.
The French option came as German group withdrew interest in the analysis last week when contacted.
The Lion Air 737 MAX 8 crashed last October also just minutes after takeoff, killing 189 people. The initial investigation indicated it was due to a malfunction on the stall prevention system, a new feature on the MAX planes.
Already, several American pilots also reported issues with the MCAS and the Federal Aviation Administration said it ordered Boeing to issue a fix by April.
The aerospace giant held a conference call on Thursday with at least three carriers using the 737 MAX and gave them the fix, one source said, and the other airlines will get it early next week.
Currently, the American Airlines, which operates two dozen 737 MAX 8 aircraft, has chosen to update the software itself, one source told AFP.
