NTSB opens investigation into Southwest 737-MAX ‘Dutch Roll’
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has opened an investigation into what it calls an ‘inflight oscillation event’ on a Southwest Airlines 737-MAX 8 aircraft.
Although the event occurred…
June 18, 2024
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has opened an investigation into what it calls an ‘inflight oscillation event’ on a Southwest Airlines 737-MAX 8 aircraft.
Although the event occurred on 25 May, the airline only notified the NTSB of the event and damage on 7 June, having performed maintenance on the aircraft and discovered damage to structural components. None of the 175 passengers or six crew were injured.
The NTSB’s Vehicle Recorder Laboratory in Washington has now received data downloaded from the aircraft’s digital flight data recorder, which will aid it in ongoing investigations. However, the cockpit voice recorder (currently limited to two hours of audio) was overwritten and unavailable to investigators.
The aerodynamic interference was described by the flight crew as ‘Dutch roll’, a phenomenon of simultaneous rolling and yawing movement around the aircraft’s fight axis, which the NTSB adds is ‘inherent to the flight dynamics of all conventional airplanes’. Commercial aircraft typically use a ‘yaw damper’ mechanism to negate its effects, however.
