Multiple engineering failures occurred, leading to the crashes in the two flights mentioned in the testimony. These issues are not only related to the technical problems that were present in the flights. The ethical problems that gave too much control to the devices and the inability to interrupt their actions are another major group of factors. Besides, it is important to mention the design flaws regarding the possibility of solving them related to the failure indication systems. If these issues had been addressed while designing the MAX versions of Boeings, the crashes could have been avoided, and they must be addressed to prevent such accidents in the future.
The main engineering failure is the technical problem related to the presence of only one AOA sensor. This is incorrect due to the guidelines that must be followed when designing an aircraft, as there is a lower possibility of both sensors providing false information (Sullenger, 2019). In these crashes, the sensors were possibly damaged, incorrectly repaired, or maintained, which led to their failure. This, perhaps, would not take place in case there were more sensors. The ethical issues consist of the impossibility for pilots to interrupt the MCAS system, which gives excessive control of the aircraft to the devices and does not let to interrupt the system when errors occur. Besides, the connection between different devices led to various cockpit alarms, which distracted the pilots and impaired the ability to determine the initial cause of the technical problems.
If such critical flaws in the design of MAX versions were detected when approving the aircraft for flights, these catastrophes would never take place. Therefore, the system must be advanced in terms of the number of AOS sensors and the ability of pilots to interrupt the MCAS, and the cockpit alarm system should be redesigned. These issues caused both technical and ethical problems that led to both the failure of the automated system and the capability of the pilots to prevent crashes.
Reference
Sullenger, S. (2019). My Testimony Today Before the House Subcommittee on Aviation.