Just recently, Boeing has faced a global backlash over the failure of the system of their Boeing 737 MAX 8 after two deadly aviation accidents and full hull losses involving the aircraft. The MAX 8 has been in development since 2014 and was intended to improve the older Boeing 737 model manufactured in 1966. The MAX 8 model of the Indonesia-based Lion Air was involved in a crash in Indonesia in October 2018 as the aircraft crashed into the Java Sea thirteen minutes after takeoff (BBC, 2018). In retaliation, Boeing issued manual operation guidance that was meant to help the pilots fly safely regardless of the erroneous cockpit readings. In March 2019, the same aircraft model was involved in a crash six minutes after taking off from Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and was headed for Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya. The Boeing 737 MAX 8 belonged to Ethiopian Airlines (Topham, 2019). After the two crashes, it was evident that the Boeing 737 MAX 8 model has particular design and control flaws that the pilots across the globe require training on to fly safely.
Systems' thinking is the holistic approach to the evaluation of how the constituent parts of a system interrelate for the working of a more extensive system. By identifying the single flaw affecting the Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes, system thinking investigates how the defect leads to a crash and how it can be corrected (Goldman, 2019). Conversely, design thinking is the methodology targeting to provide solutions to existing problems. A design thinking approach leads to the analysis of the entire plane of a Boeing 737 MAX 8 to identify the issues with it (Goldman, 2019). Humanistic thinking, on the other hand, focuses on the belief that the earth is all about what we can see and hear. Humanistic thinking pays attention to helping other people overcome what they are going through and therefore forms a fundamental basis to the training of the pilots to use MAX 8 planes (Goldman, 2019). Scientific thinking is the approach of improving the quality of thinking by imposing intellectual standards upon it. Scientific thinking will analyze what can be done better to avoid crashes of the MAX 8 aircraft.
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The advancement of technology in the aviation industry has been linked with numerous advantages, which have increased the safety of flying and controlling aircraft. However, automation is the primary reason that the issues of the MAX 8 planes arose. Due to the overreliance on automation in taking off and cruising procedures, the pilots are entirely oblivious of the manual procedures that could have been used to prevent the crashes of the MAX 8 planes. Therefore, automation from that perspective is seen to reduce the effectiveness of human performance in the aviation industry.
A new technology being used in the design efficiency and increase of human performance in the aviation industry is the creation of more accurate posture libraries (Sanjog, Karmakar, Patel & Chowdhury, 2015). Both the Lion Air and the Ethiopian Airlines crash were caused by an unexpected dive of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 which the pilots were unable to rectify thus leading to the crash. Therefore, with the technology available to correct the postures of the airplanes, the diving of the aircraft a few minutes after takeoff can be avoided and thus increasing the safety of using the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. According to Sanjog, Karmakar, Patel, and Chowdhury (2015), the posture alignment technology will also increase the human performance as they learn to interact with the design changes and hence, fulfill the goal of reducing human errors on the planes.
References
BBC. (2018, October 29). Lion Air crash: Boeing 737 plane crashes in sea off Jakarta. BBC . Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-46014463
Goldman, D. (2019, June 2). Boeing says some of its 737 Max planes may have defective parts. CNN Business . Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/02/business/boeing-faa-737-slat-track-assemblies/index.html
Sanjog, J., Karmakar, S., Patel, T., & Chowdhury, A. (2015). Towards Virtual Ergonomics:
Aviation and Aerospace. Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology: An International Journal , 87 (3), 266-273.
Topham, G. (2019, March 12). Ethiopian Airlines crash – a visual guide to what we know so far. The Guardian . Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/11/ethiopian-airlines-plane-crash-flight-et302-visual-guide-to-what-we-know-so-far
