The cover story in The New York Times magazine for September 22, 2019, was entitled, “What Really Brought Down the Boeing 737 Max?” The writer, William Langewiesche—son of the sainted author of Stick and Rudder, Wolfgang Langewiesche—is a veteran of Flying, an experienced pilot, and a thorough and technically savvy researcher of his wide-ranging articles and books. As you can imagine, I read it eagerly.
Technicalities: The Story Behind the Boeing 737 Max Grounding
Key Takeaways:
- William Langewiesche's *New York Times* article argued that the Boeing 737 Max crashes were primarily caused by the poor airmanship of inexperienced crews who failed to properly disable the malfunctioning MCAS system.
- This perspective, while acknowledging pilot training issues, was met with criticism from many, including pilot Chesley Sullenberger and the author, for downplaying Boeing's responsibility.
- Sullenberger strongly contended that the MCAS was a "fatally flawed design" and a "death trap," with Boeing making faulty assumptions about human performance under cascading failures, which ultimately superseded any pilot airmanship deficiencies.
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