Originally Posted by
michaelbinary
Well neither of you were there, and neither of you know exactly what did or didnt happen or what the pilots did or didnt do to fix the issues.
I dont beleive the situation was as simple as you would like to make out.
There are lots of comments on this and other threads about how Boeing screwed up, how the FAA screwed up, how the airlines screwed up, and how maintenance screwed up without much in the way of dissenting voices. We expect them to fix
their mistakes, don't we? Well how about the professional pilot corps? Are we willing to acknowledge that there were deficiencies on the part of the crew?
Listen, I get it. A lot of us here are pilots, and we hate to contemplate that someone within our group, for whatever reasons, fell short of the expectations of a professional pilot. It is easy to point fingers across the fence, much harder to look in the mirror. However, the first step in solving a problem is acknowledging a problem exist. Issues with automation dependency, pilot proficiency and deterioration of basic flying skills has been a constant presence in our industry for quite some time. I don't care what airline you fly for or how many hours you have, you have likely encountered someone (perhaps even yourself) who was no longer comfortable with turning off the automation and hand-flying in other than day VMC when there were no other distractions. This is a problem, and it needs to be addressed.
We do not control our training departments, but we do control how we approach our flying duties. If you are a professional pilot and you are honestly telling yourself that you could not have done any better given the MAX failed AOA scenario, then you owe it to yourself and your passengers to do something about it. Yes, we all now know the details about MCAS and how to deal with it. That's not what I'm talking about. The next malfunction you have may be equally unique and initially confusing.
If you are not comfortable with your hand-flying skills, then do something about it. Turn off the magic when you can. Hand fly the aircraft all the way to level off and all the way down. Captains, encourage your FO's to do the same. Automation is not always your friend, and sometimes it is your enemy. Start making note of pitch and power setting at different phases of flight. Pull out the manuals more often. Know your aircraft's memory items and limitations. Read incident reports and consider what you would do differently. Make training events in the sim count. If your sim instructor has the discretion, ask to see something different or something you haven't seen in awhile. Set a high standard for yourself and your crew. Yes, you can get by with much less effort for the same amount of pay 99.9% of the time. However, that last 0.1% can quite literally be the difference between life and death.
All this advice isn't anything you haven't already heard before. Just do it.