[1v1id]

> So Boeing produced a dynamically unstable airframe, the 737 Max. That is big strike No. 1. Boeing then tried to mask the 737’s dynamic instability with a software system. Big strike No. 2. Finally, the software relied on systems known for their propensity to fail .... Big strike No. 3.

The article definitely does partially blame engineering.

[ReGenGen]

We don't know the MAX is inherently unstable. That's still conjecture at this point. MCAS may have altered fight characteristics to match older 737 to avoid additional pilot training. If the MAX is inherently unstable, then this scandal is much bigger and far reaching.

[halter73]

I heard the MCAS was required to avoid a situation where the MAX, after reaching a certain pitch, would continue pitch up into a stall even if both pilots released the yoke. I don't know if that's considered "inherently unstable", but this is against FAA regulations for any commercial airplane from what I heard. That's probably a big reason why Boeing made it so difficult to completely disable the MCAS system.

My understanding is that MCAS altered fight characteristics not only to match older 737s and avoid additional pilot training. MCAS altered fight characteristics so the FAA would approve the MAX as a commercial aircraft period. The fact they could match older 737s flight characteristics for a more speedy approval from the FAA was just gravy.

[cyphar]

The article is making the point that the MAX is inherently unstable because of the larger engines causing the "pitch up" problem with an increasing angle-of-attack:

> Pitch changes with increasing angle of attack, however, are quite another thing. An airplane approaching an aerodynamic stall cannot, under any circumstances, have a tendency to go further into the stall. This is called “dynamic instability,” and the only airplanes that exhibit that characteristic—fighter jets—are also fitted with ejection seats.

So arguably the existence of MCAS in the first place indicates that the aircraft design is dynamically unstable (otherwise MCAS wouldn't have been necessary).

[yason]

But wasn't this explained in the article, already. Dynamically stable plane doesn't aggressively rotate along any of its axis, for example, when you increase or decrease throttle. The location of MAX engines generates additional forces to increase pitch when engine power is increased, and even more so when the plane is already pitched high. Earlier 737's could do without MCAS because they were designed with smaller engines in lower locations in order to be dynamically stable.

[masklinn]

The engineering blame is that they couldn't engineer themselves out of a political problem. I wouldn't call that "engineering blame".

Deep ethical failure, maybe, but this here place usually has a hard-on for epically failing the most basic ethical non-challenges.