- The 737 MAX are back in the sky.
(upbeat music)
- [Sam Chui] Hi, good morning.
First time on the MAX 9, after two years.
(plane engine roaring)
- There's my control.
If we can't control the trim on the aeroplane
then it's a simple fix.
( switches clicking)
- We test all the systems in the aeroplane.
- [Autoresponder] Recap system test, okay.
- I took my family in the back of the plane.
I mean, that's kind of the bottom line.
- [Sam Chui] To American maintenance centre at Tulsa.
- I really built around a chain of safety.
And the chain of safety breaks it's up to those of us
in the industry to end it and bring it back.
- [Interviewer] How long it's taking actually each MAX
to be re-certified, the rework could be done here?
- The interesting backstory there,
was a project called project Apollo 11.
So when Airbus announced the A320neo series
and they went to Boeing, they said
what aircraft do you have?
- Time will tell.
MAX has a long way to prove itself.
The 737 MAX are back in the sky.
I recently flew on United MAX 9
and American MAX 8.
Let's check out these flights.
I also spoke to the pilots flying them.
(upbeat music)
Miami Houston today on the 737 MAX 9,
first time on the MAX 9, after two years.
(plane engine roaring)
- [Pilot] The MAX I think is the... Gosh!
Technologically, it's a fabulous aeroplane.
And I think most pilots enjoy flying it.
I know the company enjoys it because it saves fuel.
So yeah, I mean, it's the most scrutinised plane ever.
And they did make some changes, and you know...
We went through some additional training,
but I'm also...
I'd took my family in the back of the plane.
I mean, that's, that's kind of the bottom line.
I've always told my kids and my wife,
Hey, I'm coming home (laughs)
and I will never take an aeroplane that I'm not
comfortable getting on.
And I certainly look at a passenger as if...
if I'm comfortable with my family flying.
Then I'm comfortable for someone else flying at the back.
And that's what it [boils 01:57:68] down to me.
My name is Ross.
This is Corey.
We're flying a Houston, or the Miami to Houston
day flight 704.
We have two hours and 31 minutes of flying.
- [Sam Chui] How high can a MAX can go up to?
- [Pilot] 41,000
- [Sam Chui] 41,000
- [Pilot] Today we're actually flying
that scheduled at 30,000
because the turbulence is above 30,000.
So we're going to take a lower altitude, burn more gas
but it's better comfort wise for passengers.
Well, and for us, so fly at a lower altitude.
The biggest change in upgrade for us,
is that the size of the screens.
So for us older people that our vision, (laughs) you know,
it's a great, it's great graphics
and you can change the graphics up.
Here's our control panel for the instruments.
And then we can switch this back and forth.
For example, today, I'm flying the aircraft to Houston.
So I'll put all the instruments,
the engine instruments on my side,
so that gives you, your engine speeds, your temperatures,
your fuel flow, your oil pressure, [all quantity 02:52:70].
All these things, flap settings,
so that puts it right in direct line with me
as the flying pilot.
Some people can, you can switch it back, back and forth.
Just bigger displays, quieter cockpit.
We have the control panels are different.
Basically the engine fuel controls
are a little bit different.
These are the standard emergency cut-off switches.
The big talk was about the MCAS.
Well, there's my control.
If we can't control the trim on the aeroplane
then it's a simple fix.
(switches clinging)
There's our control the runaway trim stab.
- Yeah, the maximum is a great aeroplane.
It flies really, really well.
And we test the system every morning,
whenever we get in the aeroplane-
- [Autoresponder] Terrain, terrain, pull up!
- This is, Ah, This is a test right?
- [Autoresponder] Obstacle, obstacle, pull up!
Runway awareness, Okay.
- So the first flight of the day
for this aeroplane.
- [Autoresponder] Air speed low.
- We test all the systems in the aeroplane.
But the...
- [Autoresponder] Recap, system test okay.
- They have automated a lot of systems in it.
(upbeat music)
(tone beeps)
- Thank you.
- Good morning, welcome aboard.
- Hello.
- Good morning.
- How are you?
- [PA System] Okay, put your mask
on over your mouth and nose, please?
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
- Good morning.
- [Sam Chui] Hi, good morning.
(upbeat music)
- We're just got ready
push out the gate for departure.
Two hours and 31 minutes of flying today
It's very windy in Miami today.
We're expecting a little bit of a bumpy ride
on the climb out.
We [signify 04:39:63] chance to stay seated
for departure or after departure.
And we do ask that you do please remain seated
with your seatbelt fastened.
(plane engine roaring)
(upbeat music)
- I'm Cathy, this is about my third flight on the 737 MAX.
Our bins here are much larger
that can hold more suitcases in an upright manner
instead of laying flats.
Our galleys here are the same.
Pretty much configurations as other 737s.
And in terms of everything coming back,
we have our hot and our cold beverages.
Sodas, we have our beer and wine and mini's.
And we've been (indistinct) waters
to hand out to our passengers,
along with our sandwiches, at two-and-a-half hours or more.
We have a vegetarian sandwich and a chicken sandwich.
- SELECT SNACKBOX for you.
(upbeat music)
- The seats are just standard version class seats.
It does have a little good reclined
and it slide fuller.
So, you recline.
It's just a little bit better.
And then arm-raise can go up.
There's a little bit of extra room for arm-raise.
(upbeat music)
(plane engine roaring)
Personally as a passenger,
I just don't see any difference.
Like, I couldn't feel any difference flying on the MAX,
before the grounding and after re-activated.
Time will tell.
MAX has a long way to prove itself.
My American Airlines MAX flight was a very short one,
from Orlando to Miami.
(plane engine roaring)
In fact, the night before,
I have to turn down an opportunity
to fly on a Falcon 900 private jets in order to fly
in the MAX, next morning.
I think I'm a little crazy.
The interior of American Airlines MAX was underwhelming.
The first class has a very-limited seat pitch.
There was no PTV.
The whole cabin looks a little bit plasticky,
and has this grey colour feeling.
Economy class at the back
has a very-limited legroom
comparable to a low-cost airline.
There was no food, no drink, no service, just sit
down the whole way from Orlando to Miami
Was only a 40 minutes flight.
(plane engine roaring)
However, the scenery on route was beautiful though.
I really enjoyed the take-off.
And then we flew over South Florida,
see the beaches and stretch.
And also flew over Fort Lauderdale International
before we turn over to Miami for the landing.
It was a very uneventful flight,
but it was a very smooth flight.
(upbeat music)
(plane engine roaring)
So during my stay in Miami
I met an aviation journalist Chris Sloan,
who flew on the first MAX in the US
after 20 months of grounding
to American maintenance centre at Tulsa.
- We flew a day trip.
From the Dallas Fort Worth Airport to Tulsa,
which is the location of American lines.
What's called the "M and E" base,
Maintenance and Engineering.
And that base also happens to be
the largest private airline maintenance base in the world.
And it's where the MAX essentially
was undergoing conversions
with the new MCAS software being installed.
The wiring harness corrections being made.
And a number of the FAS directives being satisfied.
That was all happening in Tulsa.
- Welcome aboard.
(plane engine roaring)
I'll be taking you up to Tulsa and [back 09:40:37] today.
A little discussion on the history of aviation.
I mean, it's a really built around a chain of safety.
And when the chain of safety breaks,
it's up to those of us in the industry
to mend it and bring it back.
There's been many, many hours of men and women
in the industry that have spent 20 months
of making sure that the chain that was broken,
that resulted in some accidents
has been mended.
And going forward we make that chain stronger and stronger.
So Doug Parker mentioned from the beginning,
that this aircraft will be safe to fly with the pilot CSC.
We're here to make sure that is the case today.
- So We all boarded, we flew 45 minutes
through a pretty miserable flight
just because of the weather conditions.
And we were going to be taken to the maintenance base.
And we were really given a pretty much all-access pass
to really see what American was doing
to create this level of comfort.
The Chief Commercial Officer David Seymour told us, he said,
you know, I asked him, I said, so why are you guys
in such a hurry to take a leadership position
in returning the MAX to service?
American had 24 of them at the time of grounding.
Southwest had 35.
American decided to return the service plane
to service earlier by a number of months.
Then either United or Southwest.
And he said, you know, we're not going to
rebuild confidence in an aeroplane unless it's flying.
It's not going to rebuild any competence
just by sitting on the ground.
So they felt it very important
to proactively get out there
and meet the issue head on,
and show everybody why they're absolutely confident
that the MAX was ready to return to service.
- So we have a programme development team
among our instructors and they took all that information
and they built a simulator simulations for all those items.
So they actually go out,
and they do what's called a stall series.
So they bring the aeroplane up to where it doesn't fly.
And that's where the MCAS will start to activate.
So they get to see that, and they get to recover from it.
So they get to see it operate
so that they understand what the noises...
the cockpit indications that are going on.
Then we do a runaway stabiliser trim where it runs away,
and they have to react to that.
We have recall items which have to be committed for memory.
And they do that particularly
they come back around and land there.
They're required to go around in the landing,
so they are before they land.
So it's not always successful.
So they get to see how to deal with those things
and manual trimming, as they're doing a go-around.
And then also the high angle of attack
which was a failure of the angle of attack thing.
One was installed incorrectly.
They believe the other one was damaged
on the takeoff, creates an unreliable airspeed,
so one side of the cockpit is not indicating correctly.
So there are memory items, recall items
that they have to perform there.
- I knew is that they see a difference
between the two angle attack
more than five and a half degrees or more.
Then they'll shut off and pass the duration of flight.
They also have another layer that's for
if they have high angle attack instance
that it will only allow it to activate at one time.
So MCAS is actually something that is used
if there's a highway event,
like a stall event or something,
or approach to stall where MCAS acted normally.
So if it is there were a situation
where it would be activating.
It only activates at one time.
- [Interviewer] I was curious how long it's taking
actually each MAX to be re-certified,
the rework could be done here?
- Software upgrade itself with the MCAS
takes approximately six hours.
The reactivation out of storage
takes about eight to 10 days.
- [Interviewer] For aircraft?
- For aircraft.
- [Interviewer] And the rewiring work is that being done
by you all as well?
- Done in that timeframe there.
- [Interviewer] So it's six to eight days.
- That's right.
- This is going to be the beginning of a long journey.
It's been a 20 month journey
but really it's just the beginning
of yet another one.
It's going to take two years return
all these MAXes to the skies.
The attention and maintenance and operations
going to happen to meticulously.
Because even though the aircraft's been heavily scrutinised,
the most scrutinised aircraft in history, you know.
Every little incident, every little problem, will, you know,
will raise eyebrows.
Then be heavily scrutinised itself.
- The significance of the MAx was,
American was really the first airline to order the MAX.
And back in 2011, it was 200 737 MAXes
and 260 A321,
319, 320s.
And that was the largest up until that point
aircraft order in history for commercial airliner.
The interesting backstory there,
was there was a project called project Apollo 11.
And there was a battle going between Boeing and Airbus,
to see who had net this order for 460 aircraft.
So when Airbus announced the A320neo series
there really wasn't an answer to that on the Boeing side.
So American purchase 260 Neo aircraft
and the 319 and 321s.
And they went to Boeing.
They said, what aircraft you have
that's has this kind of efficiency
that say, the neo does?
At the same time Boeing was developing
a replacement for the 737.
It was called project Yellowstone.
It was going to be a completely
new generation NSA new small aircraft.
And so when it up happening was, you know...
American didn't want to wait and nor did Southwest.
So they basically forced Boeing to build the MAX.
And that's when American placed an order
for 200 of those in 2011.
And the first entered...
the first MAX entered service in 2017.
- I agree that you won't be able to rebuild that confidence
when the aeroplanes grounded.
The aeroplane has to fly to prove its safety.
I won't persuade you to fly on a MAX.
I just want to share with you my two MAX flight experiences,
and what happened behind the scenes
at American airlines maintenance centre.
Time will tell.
I think the MAX has to prove itself over time.
Thanks for watching.