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Some important points from the PDF that show that it was not the problem with the pilots: - In 2015, a Boeing AR raised the question of whether MCAS was “vulne
by acqq 7y ago
Some important points from the PDF that show that it was not the problem with the pilots:
- In 2015, a Boeing AR raised the question of whether MCAS was “vulnerable to single AOA sensor failures….” Despite this, the aircraft was delivered with MCAS dependent on a single AOA sensor.
- After Boeing redesigned MCAS in 2016 to increase its power to move the aircraft’s stabilizer at low speed, Boeing never reevaluated a single- and multiple-failure analysis of MCAS.
- In March 2016, Boeing sought, and the FAA approved, removal of references to MCAS from Boeing’s Flight Crew Operations Manual (FCOM), ensuring 737 MAX pilots were unaware of this new software and its potential effect on the aircraft’s handling without pilot command.
- Boeing’s design of MCAS violated its own internal requirements which demanded that the system “not have any objectionable interaction with the piloting of the airplane” and “not interfere with dive recovery,” which occurred in both 737 MAX crashes.
- In August 2017, five months after the 737 MAX was certified by the FAA and three months after it entered revenue service, Boeing issued a problem report to its supplier complaining that the 737 MAX’s AOA Disagree alert was tied to an optional AOA Indicator display and therefore was not functioning on the vast majority of the 737 MAX fleet worldwide.
- Rather than immediately informing the FAA and Boeing customers about this issue, and advising Boeing to fix the problem via a software update as soon as possible, a Boeing AR consented to Boeing’s plan to postpone the software update until 2020 (...)
- Although Boeing prepared a “Fleet Team Digest” to inform its customers about the inoperable AOA Disagree alert, the company never sent it, keeping its customers in the dark about the inoperable alert.
- Boeing provided Lion Air a Flight Crew Operations Manual (FCOM) on August 16, 2018, one year after learning that the AOA Disagree alert was not functioning on most 737 MAX aircraft, highlighting the operation of the AOA Disagree alert. Boeing failed to indicate that it knew the AOA Disagree alert on the Lion Air 737 MAX aircraft was not operational.
- Boeing did not acknowledge that the AOA Disagree alerts on an estimated 80 percent of the 737 MAX fleet were inoperative until after the Lion Air crash in October 2018.
- Boeing’s own analysis showed that if pilots took more than 10 seconds to identify and respond to a “stabilizer runaway” condition caused by uncommanded MCAS activation the result could be catastrophic. The Committee has found no evidence that Boeing shared this information with the FAA, customers, or 737 MAX pilots.
- Boeing had tremendous financial incentive to ensure that no regulatory determination requiring pilot simulator training for the 737 MAX was made. This incentive included a Boeing contract with Southwest Airlines, its U.S. launch customer, that would have cost Boeing more than $1 million per aircraft it delivered to Southwest if pilot simulator training was required for Southwest pilots transitioning to the 737 MAX from the 737 NG. At the time of the Lion Air crash, Southwest had ordered or pre-ordered an estimated 280 737 MAX aircraft from Boeing.
- In March 2017, the month the 737 MAX was certified by the FAA, Boeing’s 737 Chief Technical Pilot responded to colleagues about the prospects of 737 MAX simulator training, saying: “Boeing will not allow that to happen. We’ll go face to face with any regulator who tries to make that a requirement.”
- WalterBright 7y agoThere's no excuse for not reading, comprehending, and remembering the Emergency Airworthiness Directive. Put another way, would you be comfortable flying with a pilot who did not pay attention to EADs? I wouldn't. Furthermore, the LA crew on the flight immediately preceding the LA crash experienced the same problem, and simply restored trim and turned off the stab trim system, and landed safely. They had no knowledge of MCAS. No extraordinary feat of airmanship was required. No lightning reactions were necessary. They simply remembered what the cutoff switches were for, as they were supposed to.
- acqq 7y ago> experienced the same problem, and simply restored trim and turned off the stab trim system, and landed safely As far as I remember it was far from "simply." Apparently they had luck of having a third pilot in the cabin present, who didn't have to maintain anything else in the cabin and had the luxury and time to observe and think about what is going on. The pilots in charge were overwhelmed by the killer plane then too, which is completely expected -- note the "10 seconds" admitted in my quotations. So, no, as far as I remember, the previous LA flight actually doesn't support your claims.
- WalterBright 7y ago> they had luck of having a third pilot in the cabin present They did indeed, one who remembered that the solution to runaway trim is to turn off the trim system. This is something that is supposed to be a "memory item". Note that all three sets of flight crews successfully countered the runaway trim using the electric trim switches. They were not overwhelmed to the point of not understanding that the trim system was the problem, as they were countering it. This was so underwhelming to the first LA crew that they didn't even bother to inform the next crew about it, or even have the plane taken out of service and fixed.
- acqq 7y ago> This was so underwhelming to the first LA crew that they didn't even bother to inform the next crew about it, or even have the plane taken out of service and fixed. The pilots were from the cultures where deference to authority, specifically, failure to even talk about the problem to those "above in the hierarchy" provably previously caused other airplane accidents. The crews since learned to function in the cockpit. But this required such an attitude outside of the cockpit for those who managed respond, "sticking their necks out" from their point of view, so they avoided it. Again, nothing to use as the proof that the plane was not utterly dangerous.