Boeing reports the successful completion of CST-100 Starliner propulsion tests, revealing that it proved the vehicle's ability to maneuver in space during its work on Friday. The testing took place at NASA's White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, where Boeing teams successfully fired the vehicle's thrusters more than two dozen times.
"Don't fix what ain't broke" is not an excuse not to try to innovate but neither is innovation an excuse to break things. That's true for foldable phones and even truer for airplane control systems. Unfortunately, Boeing learned its lessons at the expense of lives but it is persistently clawing at those problems. Now it seems to suggest that it is close to earning its wings back once the 737 MAX clears the last hurdles that the FAA has set up for its re-certification.
Boeing has shared new video clips of parachute tests related to its Starliner spacecraft, providing the public with a behind-the-scenes look at these various sessions. According to the company, the parachute test is part of the overall process to qualify the Starliner's full landing system. The company plans to conduct its first crewed launch later this year.
NASA has announced that Boeing's first Starliner crewed test flight duration will be extended. According to the space agency, the extension will give researchers time to finish up more work on maintenance, research, and some other activities while the spacecraft is docked with the International Space Station. The decision follows an "in-depth technical assessment" of the Starliner system, NASA says.
With its entire 737 MAX fleet grounded across the world, Boeing is undoubtedly working around the clock and racing against time to earn back its wings. Last week it announced the availability of an update to the problematic MCAS that is the eye of this storm but, despite its wording, it's still waiting for FAA approval. Now the FAA has issued a statement that basically tells Boeing, "not so fast."
One aphorism that should never be used in aviation is "better late than never". Considering the safety of hundreds of lives, plane makers and regulators have the legal and moral obligation to ensure that new technologies are error-free before they are used, not after they have cost lives. That's the tragedy that Boeing is hoping won't happen again after it rolls out an update to its MCAS on the 737 MAX, introducing checks that, in retrospect, should have probably been there right from the start.
NASA will soon reveal whether it'll skip Boeing's Space Launch System and use an existing commercial launch vehicle for its planned mid-2020 uncrewed lunar Orion spacecraft test flight, a new report states. The decision would be made in light of Boeing's repeated delays related to the SLS, though NASA wouldn't be abandoning the company or its project, which the space agency considers 'critical' for its future missions.
You'd think that, after all this time, we'd get the flying thing down to a "T". The Boeing 737 Max proved that isn't the case. The development of new aviation technologies might be a natural part of progress but it's not something that can be taken lightly considering the hundreds of lives involved. Sources claim that Boeing is ready to roll out sweeping changes to correct flaws in the stall-prevention system of the grounded new fleet but questions remain on why they passed certification in the first place.
The “black box” on board the devastated Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 was recovered on Tuesday at the crash site, and recently sent to France for further investigation. We hear the words “black box” whenever aviation accidents occur. It’s a colloquial term for what the experts call the flight data recorder, which records information of a flight that is essential for investigators to understand how it all went wrong.
Boeing will make a safety feature on the 737 Max standard rather than a paid upgrade, it's reported, after the technology's absence in both recent plane crashes prompted concerns that pilots could have been missing potentially vital information. The crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia are still under investigation, but neither plane was equipped with two optional safety features that might have changed the course of the incidents.
After the Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 accident this week, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) banned all Boeing 737 MAX operations in Europe. This goes for all commercial major and third-country operators both in and out of the European Union. This was announced as an official Airworthiness Directive, in effect as of 19:00 UTC, March 12th, 2019.
Aerospace company Boeing has taken the wraps off its new 'Loyal Wingman' concept demonstrator for the Boeing Airpower Teaming System. The unmanned combat drone was designed by Boeing Australia, according to the company, for 'global defense customers.' The Loyal Wingman model was introduced at the Australian International Airshow recently by the nation's defense minister.