China: Boeing demonstrates revamped flight system to airlines

Boeing has held a meeting with Chinese airlines in Shanghai to demonstrate a revamped version of the flight control system at the centre of two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia in the past six months. The demonstration was held at Boeing’s training base in Shanghai, with pilots from Chinese airlines using a flight simulator of the 737 Max jet involved in the crashes, according to a company spokesman. A similar demonstration flight was held in Seattle in March and a third is planned for Europe. It was the first time the plane manufacturer has held a training meeting of this size, the spokesman said, citing the importance of the Chinese market for the US company. Analysts have stressed China’s central role in the global aviation industry and the need for Boeing to convince local airlines and the country’s regulator of the 737 Max’s airworthiness. The system on display this week in Shanghai, called the manoeuvring characteristics augmentation system, is meant to prevent the plane from stalling but has been implicated as the cause for the accidents.<br/>