Besides, it's a "Boeing" thing...
You could have fooled me although I realise it was a tongue-in-cheek remark.
. The 737 autopilot will not engage if slight control forces are being applied by the pilot. Investigators determined that the fatal loss of the Flash Airlines Boeing 737-300 at Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt in January 2004, occurred when the crew failed to recognise
that the autopilot had not engaged as commanded after take-off.
The detailed reports describe the aircraft gently banking left as it departed at night-time over the Red Sea while the crew tried to understand what was happening – apparently realising only in the last few seconds the true situation. The aircraft finally rolled perpendicular to the horizon before crashing into the sea. All 148 occupants, 135 of whom were French, died.
The CVR revealed the captain shortly after take off asked the F/O to engage Autopilot A, which is the autopilot normally used by the captain if he is PF. Because the aircraft was slightly out of trim and the control wheel was being held slightly offset by the captain who was manually handling the take off and initial climb, the F/O who tried to engage the AP on request from the captain, was unable to engage it.
But he didn't tell the captain; instead he said "God Willing, Autopilot A engaged" The captain never double checked to ensure the AP was indeed engaged and relinquished his hand flying in the mistaken belief the F/O had indeed engaged the AP on his request.
Being slightly mis-trimmed, the aircraft began to fly by itself into an ever increasing angle of bank and the nose went down. As the 737 gradually rolled into a steep spiral dive, the captain was recorded on the CVR screaming for the F/O to engage the AP. The rest is history.
The accident could have been nipped in the bud if the captain had simply reached over and engaged AP "A" himself. He would have discovered he could not engage it while he still had control pressures applied. He would have realised why it would not engage and quickly rectified the problem by momentarily releasing his grip on the control wheel and then engaged AP A ,which would then operate normally.
That tragic accident was one good reason for the PF to engage his own AP. It was SOP when yours truly first flew the 737 many years ago. .
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