All Boeing 737 MAX flights are discontinued until aircraft software updates.

On March 13, 2019, after consulting with the United States Federal Aviation Administration and its clients, Boeing issued an official recommendation to all airlines to temporarily suspend flights of the Boeing 737 MAX. The decision was preceded by two air crashes involving this model.

In the next few weeks, the company promises to update the flight management software.

Software update has been going on for some time. Perhaps it began immediately after the first disaster in October 2018. This follows from the FAA notice of March 11. It mentions that the FAA administration monitors “the completion of flight control system improvements that reduce dependence on procedures associated with the necessary elements of a pilot memory” (flight control system enhancements). The FAA plans to complete this work no later than April 2019.
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In turn, Boeing lists a number of changes in the new system. It is said that the update includes:

• Maneuvering characteristics in the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS);
• pilot displays;
• Improved processing in the flight control system of incoming information about the angle of attack;
• restriction of the stabilizer adjustment command in response to an incorrect angle of attack;
• stabilizer command limitation to maintain the effectiveness of the elevator.

The user manuals and pilot training will be updated accordingly.

From these changes, we can draw some conclusions about the causes of past disasters. In October 2018, the Lion Air liner crashed off the west coast of the island of Java, killing 189 people. After analyzing the “black box” data, the experts were very surprised by the strange behavior of the MCAS system. Apparently, the wrong angle of attack data came from the sensors - and the plane automatically lowered its nose and headed straight for the water. The pilots tried to raise the nose more than ten times, but the system still lowered it down. As a result, the liner hit the water and crashed.

On March 10, another aircraft crashed in Ethiopia, with 149 passengers and eight crew members falling victim.