After Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed three weeks ago, Boeing’s MCAS system was quickly fingered as a likely culprit. Since then, more signs pointing to the MCAS have emerged, including more details about the Lion Air crash.

First, simulations done by Boeing showed that the Lion Air pilots had 40 seconds to react to the MCAS’ interference. To do so, they would have had to flip three switches in total to completely turn off the system. The Lion Air pilots apparently only hit one of these switches, which temporarily reset MCAS’ control over the aircraft. They did so 24 times, but every time the MCAS kicked in again, trying to correct the stall it thought was happening due to the faulty sensors. Worse, the same plane experienced the same problem the day before, and only managed to solve the problem thanks to a third pilot that just happened to be in the cockpit at the time.

Both 737 MAX also lacked safety features that could have helped pilots detect the problem earlier. One feature would warn pilots if the Angle of Attack sensors disagreed, while the other would display the actual angles measured by these sensors. Since Boeing charged extra for both of these features, many airlines opted not to buy them in an effort to keep costs down. Following the crashes, Boeing has decided to build the “disagree warning” feature into all planes at no extra charge.

Black box data from Ethiopian Flight 302 also supports the theory that the MCAS as the main problem in the crash.

And finally, the FAA’s certification of the new 737 MAX planes is being scrutinized closely, as Boeing apparently certified most systems themselves, with the FAA only reviewing a handful of systems deemed to be most critical, while working under mounting political pressure to get the planes in the air as quickly as possible.

Buzz Authority

The title “Doctor” gives someone the air of authority. If a doctor tells you something’s unhealthy, or you shouldn’t do something, you should better listen. The same goes for articles — quoting a doctor gives your writings authority. So a doctor that publishes research on sexuality and suicide is just what the doctor ordered¹ when you’re looking for stories to write. Except when that doctor turns out to be a fraud: The Fake Sex Doctor Who Conned the Media Into Publicizing His Bizarre Research on Suicide, Butt-Fisting, and Bestiality

Stranger than Fiction

“The Americans” is a TV series about a pair of Russian spies that are sent to the US, and whose cover is one of a normal American family — including having kids, who are born and grow up in the US. It makes for a thrilling and critically acclaimed show. So you can imagine that it came as somewhat a surprise when Tim and Alex Foley found out that their parents were Russian spies when their home was raided by an FBI team: The day we discovered our parents were Russian spies.

Negative Selection

Have you ever wondered which parts of your body are not as useful as the rest? Obviously, you need certain organs to live, but humans can also live with only one kidney or lung. But is there anything else we can do without, and maybe not even notice? What’s the Least Useful Body Part?

Lost in Translation

Anyone who has ever translated something knows that doing a good job is hard. Even when going between two fairly similar languages like German and English, preserving the tone and meaning of a text ist hard — especially when it’s prose or a narrative. So you can imagine the troubles facing the poor soul trying to translate Homer’s Iliad into english. Emily Wilson, fresh off of translating The Odyssey shares the troubles facing anyone trying to translate the first two lines of the Iliad: The Impossibility of Translating Homer into English.

📖 Weekly Longreads 📚

“How the 1968 Chicago ‘police riot’ shocked America and divided the nation”: The whole world is watching.

🦄 Unicorn Chaser 🦄

“Mr. Winston Churchill Presents His Compliments to Mr. Winston Churchill”