On the Boeing 737 MAX, MCAS was designed to mimic the pitching behavior of the aircraft in the previous generation of the series, the Boeing 737 NG. In April 2019, Boeing acknowledged that MCAS played a role in both accidents and stated that MCAS was not a stall prevention system. However, the recovery procedure specified by Boeing and the FAA failed to prevent the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, resulting in a global grounding of all 737 MAX aircraft pending investigation and software patches. On November 10, 2018, twelve days after the crash of Lion Air Flight 610, Boeing publicly disclosed MCAS in discussions with airline operators and other aviation representatives. The first 737 MAX was delivered to the customer in May 2017.ĭuring aircraft certification, Boeing removed the MCAS description from the MAX flight manuals, leaving pilots unaware of the system when the aircraft entered service. The glider has also undergone some changes.
The main change was the use of more powerful and larger CFM International LEAP-1B engines. The Boeing 737 MAX is the fourth generation of Boeing 737 medium-range passenger aircraft created by Boeing to replace the Boeing 737 Next Generation family.
