How a Dumbed Down Calculation Helped Boeing Certify 737 Max Jet
- Forces driving down plane’s nose underestimated, report says
- New details of grounded plane’s approval emerge in findings
Photographer: David Ryder/Getty Images
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As Boeing Co. and U.S. regulators reviewed the 737 Max design before its 2017 certification, they calculated how long it would take pilots to react to emergencies.
But that scenario wasn’t an accurate representation of how the plane behaved in two fatal crashes that have led to the worldwide grounding of the jet. The analysis estimated that the automated nose-down commands seen in the accidents were more than 25% less powerful than in reality.