Current comment from Mr G Thomas quoting Greg Feith :
“However, the disturbing reality is that it took a pilot who was not in command of the flight, and just an observer, to tell the captain and first officer (who were supposedly trained, qualified, and experienced in the operation of the Boeing 737 MAX) what the issue was that resulted in the nose of the airplane pitching down (uncommanded pitch trim input also known as a “runaway trim”),” he said.
“The fact that the pilots who were in command of the flight and had access to the flight controls did not recognise nor properly respond to the “runaway trim” event is a testament of a more systemic problem within Lion Air.”
There are four failures that will cause a runaway trim on a standard 737 and five on a MAX version with the new background software to help the pilots fly the plane.It was not this software that caused the crashes, rather faulty sensors feeding it incorrect data. “
The flight crews’ failure to understand the issue and implement the proper corrective actions (which are memory items) is a symptom of a more serious problem and a likely explanation for the loss of the airplane if the accident crew reacted in the same manner – confused, panicked and hoping to find the answer in book rather than reverting to what they would have learned in training,” Mr Feith said.
On the Ethiopian crash, Mr Feith said that it was “also of interest that it took the Ethiopian investigative team five days to find a place to have the FDR and CVR data downloaded and converted to a medium that could be used by investigators to determine the initiating event that led the pilots to lose control of the airplane.”
If the quote is accurate then Mssrs Feith and Thomas should get on very well together.