Originally Posted by
Smythe
Article that looked at pilot filings on the MCAS issue...looks like it was common at early DEP, but handled by turning off Autopilot?
The MCAS function becomes active when the airplane Angle of Attack exceeds a threshold based on airspeed and altitude. Stabilizer incremental commands are limited to 2.5 degrees and are provided at a rate of 0.27 degrees per second. The magnitude of the stabilizer input is lower at high Mach number and greater at low Mach numbers. The function is reset once angle of attack falls below the Angle of Attack threshold or if manual stabilizer commands are provided by the flight crew. If the original elevated AOA condition persists, the MCAS function commands another incremental stabilizer nose down command according to current aircraft Mach number at actuation.
This description is not currently in the 737 Flight Manual Part 2, nor the Boeing FCOM, though it will be added to them soon. This communication highlights that an entire system is not described in our Flight Manual. This system is now the subject of an AD.
I think it is unconscionable that a manufacturer, the FAA, and the airlines would have pilots flying an airplane without adequately training, or even providing available resources and sufficient documentation to understand the highly complex systems that differentiate this aircraft from prior models. The fact that this airplane requires such jury rigging to fly is a red flag. Now we know the systems employed are error prone--even if the pilots aren't sure what those systems are, what redundancies are in place, and failure modes.
https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/20...ted&yptr=yahoo
MCAS does not operate when in autopilot - it is intended solely for manual flying to ensure that the reduction in backpressure on the control column when in high AOA does not lead a pilot to inadvertently pull back into a stall. So the article you quote is not looking at the MCAS issue at all as the problem only occurred on engaging autopilot. It is probably looking at ASRS reports from crews that in some way mis-set the autopilot causing it to attempt to fly to where the crew had set it to fly. It is most definitely not MCAS.
Trawling ASRS requires a certain amount of knowledge of what you are looking at.