Updated software designed to prevent another crash similar to those that downed two Boeing 737 MAX 8s within five months is functioning as intended in test flights and is expected to be installed on the grounded MAX airplanes in coming weeks, Boeing officials say.
Boeing has worked to develop the software update for the MAX maneuvering characteristics augmentation system (MCAS) even as investigations continue into the two fatal MAX 8 crashes — of Lion Air Flight 610, which crashed into the Java Sea after takeoff from Jakarta, Indonesia, on Oct. 29, and of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, which crashed March 10 after takeoff from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Together, all 346 passengers and crew were killed.
Three days after the March 10 accident, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded MAX 8 and MAX 9 airplanes, joining other civil aviation authorities in ordering the worldwide fleet of nearly 400 MAX aircraft out of the sky.
