Boeing stock dropped sharply, dragging the Dow – where it is the most influential member – alongside after Bloomberg reported that it would take as much as three months (if not more) to fix the latest software glitch on its 737 Max, which as we reported yesterday, was discovered when a U.S. government pilot running simulator tests experienced a lag in an emergency response because a computer chip was overwhelmed with data, and which could result in “uncontrolled nosedives” in the already notorious airplane.
As we reported late on Wednesday, the FAA discovered that when the tail panel that adjusts the nose up and down moves on its own — a failure known as a trim runaway — the flight computer could impede a pilot’s response.
One of the first steps in such a failure is to use thumb switches on the control column to counter the movement. A pilot attempted that maneuver during the recent simulator test and found that because of the computer issue, the manual electric trim switches didn’t immediately respond.
That could led the plane to enter a dive that would be difficult to recover from. The FAA pilot categorized it as catastrophic, which means it could result in a crash.
After an announcement by the Federal Aviation Administration that it had detected a new safety issue on the grounded plane, Boeing said in a statement that it plans to update the plane’s software to address the issue. However, according to Bloomberg which first reported the delay, “the FAA isn’t sure yet whether that will address the problem or whether a more complex and expensive hardware fix is required” citing an unnamed source.
The same source said that estimates for how long it will take to address the latest issue on the plane range from a few weeks to three months. Another person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg it could take two to three months, but not longer. Of course, that assumes that no more “surprises” are discovered.
The news sent BA stock, which had regained most of this morning’s losses as algos contemplated the news briefly before deciding to BTFD, to drop once again, dragging the Dow briefly into the red.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2Yh6PQP Tyler Durden