Originally Posted by
mosquito88
Perfectly put.
Reliance on a single sensor driving a system that was not known to the crew and that could take over command of the aircraft is sheer madness (not to mention extreme negligence).
Beyond that it is clearly a violation of the FARs for a system to have a failure mode arrived at by (1) any combination of failures whose probability is greater that 1x10E-9 or (2) any single failure that results in a catestrophic hazard level.
While in hindsight it may be found to be otherwise, I am certain that both Boeing and FAA determined that the hazard level associated with an AOA sensor signal failed high on a 737MAX was not catestrophic. As I have mentioned in previous posts I think this all comes down to assumptions regarding pilot actions given this failure and the sum total of its effects. I am not singling out the crew as solely responsible for the Lion Air accident. We need to focus on the assumptions. As for the Ethiopian accident that is the intended focus of this thread, we simply do not yet have the data necessary to determine if any of this MCAS and errant AOA signal discussion actually applies.