"Everyone has patience"

How collapse in Ethiopia can affect the reputation of Boeing

On March 10, Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed in Ethiopia - this is the second for six months of a plane crash with the participation of the same model of the American corporation. In both cases, all passengers and crew members were killed aboard. The reason for the crash in Indonesia was problems in the new ship management system, which happened in Ethiopia is unknown, the investigation continues. Experts and employees of the aviation industry see the connection between the two events. That is why, until the end of the investigation and clarification of the reasons for the collapse of the country of the EU, Asia and Africa, they closed their airspace or suspended flights of this model. The New Gazeta says what has happened since the tragedy.

What happened?

On March 10, at about 8:44 pm Moscow, the Boeing 737 Max 8 Airlines Ethiopian Airlines crashed in Ethiopia, which has been a flight from Addis Ababe in Nairobi. The liner began to experience problems with the control two minutes after the start of the flight. On board the airliner were eight crew members and 149 passengers, they all died.

Among the victims of the crash are citizens of 33 states, including Kenya, Ethiopia, Canada, Italy, China, the USA, Great Britain, France and others. Among the dead are the wife, son and daughter of the deputy of the Parliament of Slovakia Anton Grinka.

Three tourists from Russia flew the same flight. Marital couple Alexander and Ekaterina Polyakov worked in Sberbank. “They were very young, studied together, and in recent years they worked at Sberbank Liding. Ekaterina and Alexander went to Africa to rest, which was so tragically broken, ”the company said. The third Russian, Sergey Vyalikov, worked as an instructor in parachute jumping in Tver.

Is there a connection between this disaster with a crash in Indonesia?

Preliminary reasons for the crash are currently unknown, there is an investigation. However, experts note the similarity of the disaster with the crash of Boeing 737 MAX 8 in Indonesia. On October 29, Lion Air, a liner of the Indonesian company, fell near the coast of Java, 13 minutes after departure from Jakarta Airport. All 189 passengers and crew members died.

The cause of the disaster was called a new computerized control system, in particular problems with a height and speed. After taking off, the instruments of the commander and the second pilot began to show different speed.

In addition, the aircraft stabilizer began to automatically change the position. The nose of the side took away at least 20 times, its position had to be manually pulled back every time. The pilots could not turn off the automatic control, the board crossed at the peak and crashed into the sea at high speed.

As reported by The Wall Street Journal with reference to sources, Boeing could hide information about potential risks associated with the new flight control system from airlines. The interlocutor of the newspaper claimed that new functions were not described in training materials for pilots that flew on the last models of the American corporation.

How did the world industry react to the fall of the aircraft?

“Safety is a number one priority for Boeing. We are completely confident in the safety of 737 Max. We understand that regulatory authorities and customers have made decisions that they consider the most suitable for their domestic markets, ”Boeing said on March 12. The day before, the corporation promised to present new software for aircraft to make a flight “even safer”.

The authorities of countries operating aircraft of the 737 MAX 8 model, the corporation’s statements reacted skeptically. This is evidenced by the fact that

To the environment, almost all states, in the air parks of which there are liners of this type, temporarily closed their airspace for them.

The first temporary ban on Boeing 737 MAX 8 was introduced by China, which saw the “certain similarity of two disasters” that occurred at the stage of take -off of the liners. Following “as an additional precaution”, the flights of this model were suspended by the airline Ethiopian Airlines. Later, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia and Oman joined the Boycot.

On March 11, the temporary ban on the operation of Boeing 737 Max 8 introduced the authorities of Germany, France, Austria and Great Britain. By the evening of the closure of the airspace, the passengers' security interest was announced by the Aviation Security Agency of the European Union (EASA) throughout Europe. After that, the temporary restrictions were introduced by New Zealand, Fiji, Kazakhstan, India, Türkiye, Lebanon and Egypt.

Now in the international airspace there are 38 liners such as Boeing-737 Max 8. The only countries that continue to operate the aircraft remained Canada (Air Canada, WestJet) and the USA (American Airlines, Southwest Airlines). The US Federal Civil Aviation Department (FAA) explained its decision by the fact that so far his assessment “has not identified systemic problems in the functioning” of aircraft.

Despite this, American senators and aviation workers called on US authorities to temporarily stop flights of liners following the example of other countries. The head of Boeing Dennis Mulenburg, as reported by The New York Times, personally called US President Donald Trump and assured him of the safety of aircraft.

A brief conversation, claimed the publication, took place after the American leader wrote on his official twitter: “Aircraft become too complicated for flight. Rather, not pilots, but computer specialists from the Massachusetts Technological Institute. ”

Does Russia operate the 737 Max 8 model?

Boeing 737 Max 8 has been used on commercial flights since May 2017 and is one of the latest, says independent aviation expert Vadim Lukashevich: “It has specific features in the management system. In particular, the aircraft had problems with the mechanism of rearranging the “angle of attack” of the tail stabilizer ( this caused the crash of the aircraft in Indonesia . - “New”. ). In general, management problems arise when freelance situations occur, for example, due to poor visibility and weather conditions. ”

In Russia, the aircraft of the S7 Airlines are operating aircraft of this model, in its park there were two liners of this model. Both aircraft suspended flights before more detailed information about the causes of collapse in Ethiopia. The carrier reported that this decision would not affect the regularity of flights.

At the same time, the interfax source in the air traffic control bodies argued that Russia would not limit the flight of Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft over its territory: “There were no such orders. It is not planned to close airspace for aircraft for aircraft. ”

As RIA Novosti reported, earlier a number of Russian airlines planned to purchase 737 Max 8 aircraft and did not revise their decision after the disaster. 28 liners ordered UTair, 20 - Victory and 14 - Ural Airlines. The latter company said that “does not plan to refuse orders”, the cost of which amounted to more than $ 1.5 billion.

How did the crash affect Boeing's reputation?

“It was the last drop, everyone had patience. Indonesia stopped flying, because six months ago she had a similar case. China stopped flying, one might say, partly due to the competition: there Comac C919 enters the mass market, which works in the same niche as 737 Max 8, ”says Lukashevich.

According to him, the global civil aviation market is divided between the “two giants” of Boeing and Airbus, and when the aircraft of one of the companies tolerate, this is always good for a competitor.

Now we can expect an increase in Airbus models, the expert suggests.

The catastrophe can affect the redistribution of the share of Boeing and Airbus in the civil aviation market, but insignificantly, the expert of the Institute of Transport and Transport Policy of the Higher Superior Fedor Fedor Borisov believes. In this, he sees two reasons: firstly, the market is quite conservative, and secondly, replacing the type of basic aircraft requires serious costs. According to Borisov, for the corporation it will be non -critically restored by 350 cars ( so much Boeing put the airlines as of January 2019 - “New”. ) If the investigation shows problems in the aircraft and if the revision is not fundamental.

“Until the investigation has been made, the crash is probably not reflected in the reputation of Boeing. If it turns out that the human factor has worked, then there will be no consequences, the catastrophe will hardly affect the sales, ”says Borisov. - People who purchase liners are unemotional. They look at the economy and basic indicators. In addition, there is a public reputation, it is significant and long -term. Now everyone is excited, but it is important to understand whether it happened, there is a Boeing’s fault. ”

Nevertheless, according to the American stock exchange, the corporation has already suffered material damage. The day after the collapse of the Boeing promotion, at the opening of trading, more than 11% fell by more than 11% - up to 371.27 dollars per paper. According to Bloomberg, this was the largest drop in shares during the day from the moment of the attack in the United States on September 11, 2001 - then papers fell by 13%. On March 12, shares rose by 3.6% to 384.7 dollars per paper.

UPDATE
On March 13, US President Donald Trump introduced a temporary ban on 737 Max 8 aircraft after crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia. Boeing said she was still confident in the safety of the liners, and this decision was made to "reassure the aviation community."

On March 14, the airspace for the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft closed Russia: “Flights of aircraft of this modification are prohibited to a special indication,” said Alexander Neudko, head of the Federal Air Transport Agency.