PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Ethiopian airliner down in Africa
View Single Post
Old 20th Apr 2019, 21:53
  #4162 (permalink)  
robocoder
 
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Planet Earth
Posts: 17
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Originally Posted by 737 Driver
I've pondered this question myself quite a bit. I'm not sure we will ever know the correct answer, but let me offer an observation. While the 737 has a lot of redundancy, that redundancy does not generally extend to two sensors coming to an agreement before one of them causes a system response.

The most obvious example is that if one stall computer (SMYD) senses an approach to stall condition, it will turn on one stick shaker and activate the Elevator Feel Shift Module (EFSM). I believe one SMYD can also activate the Speed Trim Stall ID function and the autoslats (I'm actually trying to confirm these last two. The aircraft maintenance manual (AMM) suggests this is the case, but I haven't found anyone at my company who can say for sure). If the left and right inputs disagree, you will get some kind of message, but the system response still occurs.

I could envision a scenario in which someone on the MCAS design team looked at how previous 737 models treated these system inputs and simply followed suit. The difference this time was the system response was more than an annoyance - it was, sadly in hindsight, an existential threat.
I remember someone explaining that if they went with two sensors, the system would have to notify on disagreement and generate a warning, and that would need extra training and/or somehow impact the constraints under which the MAX was being designed.

I don't remember who said that and how accurate that is. Because if true, that raises the question: if the modified MCAS now accepts two inputs and self-disables on disagreement, is the no-training card already lost? With the penalty millions of certain airlines?
robocoder is offline