Boeing announces fixes for its 737 Max aircraft

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Debris from Ethiopian Airlines flight 302

来自埃塞俄比亚航空公司航班302的碎片

Boeing has issued changes to controversial control systems linked to two fatal crashes of its 737 Max planes in the last five months.

波音已对有争议的控制系统发布更改在过去的五个月中，它与737 Max飞机的两次致命撞车有关。

But it's still not certain when the planes, that were grounded worldwide this month, will be allowed to fly.

但是，本月在全球停飞的飞机将被允许飞行仍不确定

Investigators have not yet determined the cause of the accidents.

调查人员尚未确定事故原因。

As part of the upgrade, Boeing will install as a standard a warning system, which was previously an optional safety feature.

作为升级的一部分，波音将作为标准安装警告系统，以前是一个可选的安全功能。

Neither of the planes, operated by Lion Air in Indonesia and Ethiopian Airlines, that were involved in the fatal crashes, carried the alert systems, designed to warn pilots when sensors produce contradictory readings.

这两架飞机都是由印度尼西亚的Lion Air和埃塞俄比亚航空公司运营的。警报系统，用于在传感器产生相互矛盾的读数时向飞行员发出警告。

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Upgrade

升级

The plane-maker has also issued an upgrade to the software that has been linked to the crashes.

飞机制造商也发布了upgr适用于与坠机相关的软件。

The Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), designed to keep the plane from stalling, reacts to sensors which detect whether the jet is climbing at too steep an angle.

机动特性增强系统（MCAS）旨在防止飞机失速，对传感器做出反应，检测是否有喷射但是，在过去的一次狮子航空飞行调查显示该系统发生故障，迫使飞机的机头下降超过20次，然后撞到了飞机。

But an investigation of the Lion Air flight last year suggested the system malfunctioned, and forced the plane's nose down more than 20 times before it crashed into the sea killing all 189 passengers and crew.

大海杀死了所有189名乘客和机组人员。

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Boeing has redesigned the software so that it will disable MCAS if it receives conflicting data from its sensors.

波音重新设计了软件，以便在收到来自传感器的冲突数据时禁用MCAS。

In a briefing to reporters Boeing said that the upgrades were not an admission that the system had caused the crashes.

在向记者介绍情况时，波音公司表示升级不是承认系统造成了崩溃。

Oversight

监督

The FAA itself also came under scrutiny on Wednesday.

美国联邦航空局本身也在周三受到审查。

At a Senate hearing to discuss airline safety, senators questioned the FAA's acting head Daniel Elwell about the regulator's practice that involves employees of a plane manufacturer in the process of inspecting, testing and certifying the company's own aircraft.

在Sena听证会讨论航空公司的安全问题，参议员q美国联邦航空局代理负责人丹尼尔·埃尔韦尔（Daniel Elwell）提到监管机构的做法，涉及飞机制造商的员工在检查，测试和认证公司自己的飞机的过程中。

The practice was described by one senator, Richard Blumenthal, as leaving “the fox guarding the henhouse”.

这种做法由一位参议员，理查德布卢门撒尔，留下“狐狸守护鸡舍”。

Mr Elwell denied that it was “self-certification” arguing that the FAA “retains strict oversight authority” of the process. He said that the practice was used “globally” including by the European Aviation Safety Agency.

Elwell先生否认这是“自我认证”，认为FAA“保留严格的监督权”这个过程。他说这种做法是“全球性的”，包括欧洲航空安全局。

Mr Elwell added that if the FAA were unable to delegate these tasks to planemakers, it would have to recruit 10,000 more employees, costing the regulator an additional $1.8bn.

Elwell先生补充说，如果美国联邦航空局无法将这些任务委托给飞机制造商，那么招募10,000多名员工，使监管机构额外花费18亿美元。

Image caption Mourners attend a mass funeral for victims of the crashed Ethiopian Airlines flight

图片说明哀悼者参加为埃塞俄比亚航空公司航班坠毁的受害者举行的群众葬礼

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However, Mr Elwell said the FAA wanted to wait until they received relevant information before they made a decision.

但是，Elwell先生说FAA希望等到他们做出决定之前收到相关信息。

“We may have been the last country to ground the aircraft, but the United States and Canada were the first countries to ground the aircraft with data for cause and purpose,” he said.

“我们是他们是最后一个将飞机降落的国家，但是美国和加拿大是第一批将飞机用于原因和目的的国家，”他说。{/ p>

Mr Elwell said that he was “confident” in the MCAS system and that pilots were trained in how to deal with a situation where a plane drops suddenly.

Elwell说，他对MCAS系统“充满信心”，并且飞行员接受过如何处理飞机突然下降的情况的培训。

However, when asked about how he would have handled a plane that dropped 21 times in a matter minutes as the Lion Air flight in Indonesia did before it crashed last October, Mr Elwell, a trained pilot, said: “I'd have to get back to you on the specific.”

然而，当被问到他是怎样的时候在去年十月印度尼西亚的狮子航空公司飞机坠毁之前，飞机会在几分钟内完成一架飞机降落21次，一名训练有素的飞行员埃尔韦尔先生说：“我必须得到bac对于你的具体情况。”

Timetable

时间表

Earlier, announcing the package of cockpit upgrades, Boeing said a final version of the software would be submitted to the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) by the end of the week.

早些时候，波音宣布推出驾驶舱升级包，最终版本为该软件将在本周末提交给联邦航空管理局（FAA）。

But it added that airlines would have to install the new software, give feedback on its performance, and train pilots before the changes could be certified and the planes passed safe to fly again.

但它补充说，航空公司必须安装新软件，对其性能提供反馈，并且在变更可以通过认证之前训练飞行员并且飞机可以安全地再次飞行。

Image copyrightBoeingImage caption There is no timetable for the Boeing 737 Max plane to return to operations

图像copyrightBoeingImage标题波音737 Max飞机没有时间表返回作战

A joint investigation by the US National Transportation Safety Board, France's aviation investigative authority BEA and Ethiopia's Transport Ministry is expected to release a preliminary report into the Ethiopian crash this week.

美国国家运输安全委员会，法国航空调查机构BEA和埃塞俄比亚运输部的联合调查预计将于本周发布埃塞俄比亚事故的初步报告。

A Boeing official said: “Following the first incident in Indonesia we followed the results of the independent authorities looking at the data, and, as we are always looking to ways to improve, where we find ways to improve, we make those changes to make those improvements.”

波音公司的一位官员说：“在印度尼西亚发生第一起事件后，我们跟踪了独立机构查看数据的结果，并且，我们始终如一在寻求改进的方法，在我们找到改进方法的地方，我们会做出这些改进以实现这些改进。”