<story><title>Boeing Believed a 737 Max Warning Light Was Standard</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/05/business/boeing-737-max-warning-light.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>AnssiH</author><text>The &amp;quot;warning light&amp;quot; is an &amp;quot;AOA DISAGREE&amp;quot; text that appears on the main flight display:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.boeing.com&amp;#x2F;resources&amp;#x2F;boeingdotcom&amp;#x2F;commercial&amp;#x2F;737max&amp;#x2F;updates&amp;#x2F;AOA_VaneIndicator_AoA_Disagree_lg.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.boeing.com&amp;#x2F;resources&amp;#x2F;boeingdotcom&amp;#x2F;commercial&amp;#x2F;737m...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;So there was no non-functional physical light on the cockpit.</text></item><item><author>lqet</author><text>&amp;gt; After discovering the lapse in 2017, Boeing performed an internal review and determined that the lack of a working warning light “did not adversely impact airplane safety or operation,” it said in its statement.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; As a result, Boeing said it did not inform airlines or the Federal Aviation Administration about the mistake for a year.&lt;p&gt;There was a warning light installed in the cockpits which was completely non-functional in 80% of the 737 max fleet, and Boeing did not notify the airlines for an entire year? Did they honestly think that &amp;quot;lack of a warning light&amp;quot; is equal to &amp;quot;lack of &lt;i&gt;working&lt;/i&gt; warning light&amp;quot;?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jrochkind1</author><text>I think that makes it &lt;i&gt;worse&lt;/i&gt; on Boeing&amp;#x27;s part, that it was a software-only feature that was disabled from those who didn&amp;#x27;t pay. They didn&amp;#x27;t even have to &amp;quot;install&amp;quot; any hardware.&lt;p&gt;It sounds like the software accidentally coupled functionality of this light to another feature. It is in fact a software bug. To fix the bug would have required a software redeploy -- which is definitely non-trivial thing in safety-critical software, and may have required some kind of recertification, or at any rate significant expense.&lt;p&gt;Instead, they could have done what they in fact _have done_ only _after_ people died:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; In the months after the Lion Air crash, Boeing quietly worked to appease some customers, according to a person briefed on the matter. In several instances, it activated the angle of attack indicator for free, which then turned on the disagree alert.&lt;p&gt;Well, quietly, for some customers, who know to insist on it and have the purchasing power to get what they insist on.&lt;p&gt;All Boeing had to do was flip a switch to turn the software feature on, without charging for it.</text></comment>
<story><title>Boeing Believed a 737 Max Warning Light Was Standard</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/05/business/boeing-737-max-warning-light.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>AnssiH</author><text>The &amp;quot;warning light&amp;quot; is an &amp;quot;AOA DISAGREE&amp;quot; text that appears on the main flight display:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.boeing.com&amp;#x2F;resources&amp;#x2F;boeingdotcom&amp;#x2F;commercial&amp;#x2F;737max&amp;#x2F;updates&amp;#x2F;AOA_VaneIndicator_AoA_Disagree_lg.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.boeing.com&amp;#x2F;resources&amp;#x2F;boeingdotcom&amp;#x2F;commercial&amp;#x2F;737m...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;So there was no non-functional physical light on the cockpit.</text></item><item><author>lqet</author><text>&amp;gt; After discovering the lapse in 2017, Boeing performed an internal review and determined that the lack of a working warning light “did not adversely impact airplane safety or operation,” it said in its statement.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; As a result, Boeing said it did not inform airlines or the Federal Aviation Administration about the mistake for a year.&lt;p&gt;There was a warning light installed in the cockpits which was completely non-functional in 80% of the 737 max fleet, and Boeing did not notify the airlines for an entire year? Did they honestly think that &amp;quot;lack of a warning light&amp;quot; is equal to &amp;quot;lack of &lt;i&gt;working&lt;/i&gt; warning light&amp;quot;?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>lqet</author><text>Ah, I was not aware of that. But surely the pilots were under the impression that such a warning message existed?</text></comment>