737 MAX: A jet born of Boeing's frantic race to outdo a rival

737 MAX:波音为超越对手而疯狂竞争的产物

Boeing faced an unthinkable defection in the spring of 2011. American Airlines, an exclusive Boeing customer for more than a decade, was ready to place an order for hundreds of new, fuel-efficient jets from the world’s other major aircraft manufacturer, Airbus.

2011年春季，波音遭遇了一场难以想象的背叛。十多年来，美国航空公司一直是波音公司的独家客户，而当时该公司准备从另一家主要飞机制造商空客公司订购数百架新型节油喷气式飞机。

The chief executive of American called Boeing’s leader, W James McNerney, to say a deal was close. If Boeing wanted the business, it would need to move aggressively, the airline executive, Gerard Arpey, told McNerney.

美国航空公司CEO杰勒德·阿尔佩致电波音公司时任CEO W詹姆斯·麦克纳尼，称交易已接近达成，如果波音想要这笔订单，就需要采取大胆积极的行动。

To win over American Airlines, Boeing ditched the idea of develo a new passenger plane, which would take a decade. Instead, it decided to update its workhorse 737, promising the plane would be done in six years.

为了说服美国航空公司，波音放弃了开发一种新型客机的想法，而这需要十年的时间。相反，波音决定更新其主力737机型，并承诺这款飞机将在6年内完工。

The 737 Max was born roughly three months later.

大约三个月后，737 Max诞生。

The competitive pressure to build the jet — which permeated the entire design and development — now threatens the reputation and profits of Boeing, after two deadly crashes of the 737 Max in less than five months. Prosecutors and regulators are investigating whether the effort to design, produce and certify the Max was rushed, leading Boeing to miss crucial safety risks and to underplay the need for pilot training.

制造这款飞机的竞争压力渗透到整个设计和开发过程中，现在又威胁着波音的声誉和利润。在不到5个月的时间里，波音737 Max发生了两起致命的坠机事故。检察官和监管机构正在调查，737Max的设计、生产和认证工作是否过于仓促，导致波音忽视了关键的安全风险，并低估了飞行员培训的必要性。

While investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the crash in Ethiopia this month and one in Indonesia in October, they are focused on a newly installed piece of software designed to avoid stalls. The software was meant to compensate for bigger, more fuel-efficient engines and ensure the plane flew the same way as an earlier version.

调查人员仍在努力确定本月埃塞俄比亚和去年10月印度尼西亚的坠机原因，重点是一款新安装的软件，该软件的设计目的是避免出现失速，并确保该机型与早期版本的飞行方式相同。

Months behind Airbus, Boeing had to play catch-up. The pace of the work on the 737 Max was frenetic, according to current and former employees who spoke with The New York Times. Some spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

落后空客数月，波音不得不迎头赶上。波音的现任和前任员工在接受《纽约时报》采访时表示，737 Max的生产速度非常快。由于此事的敏感性，一些人要求匿名。

Engineers were pushed to submit technical drawings and designs at roughly double the normal pace, former employees said. Facing tight deadlines and strict budgets, managers quickly pulled workers from other departments when someone left the Max project. Although the project had been hectic, current and former employees said they had finished it feeling confident in the safety of the plane.

前雇员称，工程师们被迫以大约两倍于正常速度的进度提交技术图纸和设计。面对紧迫的截止日期和严格的预算，当有员工退出Max项目时，经理们迅速从其他部门调员工。尽管该项目很仓促，但现任和前任员工表示，他们对飞机的安全充满信心。

The specter of Boeing’s chief rival was constant. Airbus had been delivering more jets than Boeing for several years. And losing the American account would have been gutting, costing the manufacturer billions in lost sales and potentially thousands of jobs.

波音主要竞争对手的威胁始终挥之不去。多年来，空客交付的飞机数量一直超过波音。而失去美国大客户将会使这家制造商损失数十亿美元的销售额，并可能导致数千个工作岗位的流失。

“They weren’t going to stand by and let Airbus steal market share,” said Mike Renzelmann, an engineer who retired in 2016 from Boeing’s flight control team on the 737 Max.

2016年从波音737 Max飞行控制团队退休的工程师迈克·伦泽尔曼称：“他们不会袖手旁观，不会让空客窃取市场份额”。

The push for automation was a philosophical shift for Boeing, which for decades wanted to keep pilots in control of the planes as much as possible. Airbus, by comparison, tended to embrace technology, putting computers in control. Pilots who preferred the American manufacturer even had a saying: “If it’s not Boeing, I’m not going.”

对波音来说，推动自动化是一大转变。数十年来，波音一直希望让飞行员尽可能多地控制飞机。相比之下，空客倾向于采用技术，让电脑来控制。喜欢这家美国制造商的飞行员甚至说:“如果不是波音，我就不开。”

The new software system is now a focus of investigators who are trying to determine what went wrong in the Ethiopian Airlines crash and the Lion Air tragedy in Indonesia. A leading theory in the Lion Air crash is that the system was receiving bad data from a faulty sensor, triggering an unrecoverable nose dive. All 737 Max jets around the world are grounded, and Boeing has given no estimate of when they might return to flight.

新的软件系统现在是调查人员的重点，他们正试图确定埃航坠机和印尼狮航坠机的原因。在狮航坠机事件中，一个主要的论调是，系统从一个有故障的传感器接收到错误的数据，引发了无法恢复的俯冲。全球所有的737 Max飞机都停飞了，波音公司也没有预计它们何时可能恢复飞行。

In Renton, Washington, where the 737 Max is produced in a 1.1-million-square-foot plant, the mere possibility that Boeing engineering contributed to the crashes has cast a pall over the factory. After the Lion Air crash, Boeing offered trauma counseling to engineers who had worked on the plane.

波音737 Max的生产在华盛顿伦顿一个110万平方英英的工厂里进行，仅仅是波音设计导致飞机坠毁的可能性就给这家工厂蒙上了一层阴影。在狮航坠机事件后，波音公司为参与该机型设计的工程师提供了心理创伤咨询。

“People in my group are devastated by this,” said Renzelmann, the former Boeing technical engineer. “It’s a heavy burden.”

波音前技术工程师伦泽尔曼表示:“我所在团队的人对此深感震惊。这是一个沉重的负担。”

Boeing is working on an update to MCAS software. The company was meeting with carriers over the weekend to discuss the update, which is expected to roll out by April. It also intends to make a previously optional safety indicator in its cockpit standard in new Max jets.

波音公司正在对MCAS软件进行更新。该公司上周末与运营商举行了会议，讨论预计将于4月推出的更新。该公司还打算在新款Max飞机的驾驶舱标准中加入一个可选的安全指示器。

Boeing now makes a record 52 Maxes a month, and aims to reach 57 by April.

波音公司目前每月最多生产52架飞机，并计划在4月份达到57架。

印度时报读者评论：

译文来源：三泰虎   译者：Jessica.Wu

外文：https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Prabjit - 17 hours ago -Follow

Boeing should be held liable and they should compensate for the lost lives

波音公司应该承担责任，提供赔偿金。

Spaceman - Earth - 17 hours ago -Follow

Haste makes waste

欲速则不达

Subodh - 17 hours ago -Follow

Boeing never experienced this type of nose dive problem in any of its earlier models.Before these flying coffins are allowed to fly ,the reason for these two air crashes ,needs thorough investigation. Airlines should cancel their orders.

在其早期机型中，波音从未遇到过这种类型的俯冲问题。在这些飞行棺材被允许飞行之前，需要彻底调查这两起空难的原因。航空公司应该取消订单。

Pankaj - Mumbai - 17 hours ago -Follow

Boeing should pay up for the losses of the airlines and fined heavily for these 2 accidents. anything below $10 billion will not make any sense

波音应该赔偿航空公司的损失，对这两起事故应处以重罚，罚款不能少于100亿美元。

P S G - 17 hours ago -Follow

You see, corporate cronies are the same everywhere. Their only goal is profit, profit and profit. Profit comes above everything else, even the lives of people. Hope Boeing is royally sued if found guilty

任何地方的企业都是一样的。他们唯一的目标就是利润。利润高于一切，甚至高于人的生命。如果有罪，希望波音公司被起诉。

Rajeev Narayan - Nagpur - 17 hours ago -Follow

Boeing would be under tremendous pressure. When Airbus was A320 was introduced, there were problems and in India 2 accidents had taken place. Boeing will surely come out of this problem, which I hope will not occur again.

波音面临巨大的压力。当空客A320问世时，也出现了一些问题，印度发生了两起事故。波音公司肯定会解决这个问题，希望这种事故不会再发生。

Pappu Kongressi - 17 hours ago -Follow

IF IT''S BOEING I''M NOT GOING.

如果是波音，我就不坐。

Siv Sarkar - 17 hours ago -Follow

Greed ! Lust ! Compromise ! Shame on the corporate world ! ☹

贪婪!欲望!妥协! 这是企业的耻辱!

Vijay - 16 hours ago -Follow

Business at the cost of safety and death. When Volkswagen cheated America in pollution manipulation billions of dollars was collected by USA. Here the Boeing a US company's gross negligence resulted in two crashes and hundreds of death. Let us see how much penalty will be imposed and what kind of action would be taken

为了牟利，牺牲了安全。大众汽车在尾气排放上欺骗美国民众，结果被美国罚了数十亿美元。美国波音公司的严重疏忽导致两起飞机坠毁，数百人死亡。让我们看看要罚多少，该采取何种行动。

Shawn - Kolkata - 17 hours ago -Follow

It''s everywhere in the developed countries.

这种事情在发达国家随处可见。

Known Unknwon - 17 hours ago -Follow

The article is beyond comprehending ability of most Indian.

这篇文章，大多数印度人理解不来。

saksh - 17 hours ago -Follow

THE MORALS OF STORY IS HUMAN BEING IS NOT A MACHINE AND MACHINE CANT BE HUMAN

文章的寓意是人类不是机器，机器也不能代替人类

Axa Aga - 17 hours ago -Follow

This thug & fraud company has to be SUED, PENALIZED for being responsible for killing so many passengers, causing enormous harm to equal no. of families . .it is a CRIMINAL offence against them

起诉这家流氓诈骗公司，害了这么多乘客，造成巨大损失。这是刑事犯罪。

tvenak B - US - 14 hours ago -Follow

Had any one of these two recent Boeing Max 8 crashes with no survivors happened in the US, BOEING WOULD HAVE BEEN SUED their pants of and victims'' families would have been awarded.

如果最近两起波音Max 8空难中有一起发生在美国，并且没有生还者，波音就会被起诉，受害者的家属也会得到赔偿。

Spidey - 14 hours ago -Follow

Boeing should gift one of its Aircraft to Feku

波音应该送一架737Max给莫迪。

Amol P - 17 hours ago -Follow

Shows Americans will go to any lengths to cut down competition.

美国人会不遗余力地减少竞争。

Gyani - 14 hours ago -Follow

At any given time European machines are the best ever, next best match is Japanese technology.

Americans better forget competing in terms of quality.

欧洲的技术是有史以来最先进的，其次是日本的技术。

Chat - 15 hours ago -Follow

interesting article.... Boeing is clearly behind, in the race of bigger market share

这文章有意思，在扩大市场份额的竞争中，波音显然落后了

Shashi Srivastava - 14 hours ago -Follow

Corporate greed usually costs human lives. Nothing new.

企业的贪婪通常会以人命为代价，没什么新鲜的。

Virat - 14 hours ago -Follow

Another achievement of Mr Modi

莫迪的又一成就

Mohit - 14 hours ago -Follow

Boeing should invest in R&D to capture global market .

波音应该投资研发以占领全球市场。

Dr - 16 hours ago -Follow

Mad rush to dominate aviation market share led fatal crash a stringent capital punishment for Boeing's top brass who jeopardized passengers safety___"__

疯狂地抢占航空市场份额导致了坠机事故，对危害乘客安全的波音高管判刑吧

Sunny - 17 hours ago -Follow

Thank god Boeing rejected me last year in an interview.

谢天谢地，在去年的一次面试中，波音公司拒绝了我。

With No Malice - India - 12 hours ago -Follow

So, who is responsible for the hundreds of lost lives?

谁应该为数百人的死亡负责呢

Sameer - India - 15 hours ago -Follow

why government bailout to these private airlines , Kingfisher was 1st victim

为什么政府要拯救这些私人航空公司，翠鸟航空是第一个受害者。

Chokidar - Earth - 16 hours ago -Follow

can we start #BoycottBoeing campaign and force all airlines to drop Boeing? who killed 350 people just to make money?

我们能发起抵制波音的运动，迫使所有航空公司放弃波音吗?是谁为了赚钱害死了350人?