Originally Posted by
737 Driver
By the numbers then: Stick shaker. WTF?! Check my power (increase as necessary), check my attitude, check my configuration. Is it flying or is it wallowing? If it is wallowing, keep the nose down and accelerate. If its flying, probably a false indication, continue the climb, call for the gear. Cross check instruments. I've got my hands full, so ask my FO to read off what he sees on all three airspeeds. At 400 feet check my roll mode, have FO ask for straight ahead if appropriate and declare emergency. If by now I've determined we have unreliable airspeed, memory items except I'm going to keep takeoff power and 15 degrees pitch until 1000' where I set 10 degrees and 80% N1.
Very convincing, well written, and no-one can argue that following that recipe would have saved the aircraft.
There are two problems with it. The pilot seems to have done rather a lot by 400ft. And leaving flaps down seems a bit too convenient. If you just add a bit of delay in pulling the stick shaker CBs, and you happen to clean up (which would be perfectly good airmanship), then the MCAS genie is out of the bottle and you're in test pilot mode.
Reality is more complex, time is more flexible, cognitive skills are worse than the scripts that we write after the event.
A competent pilot showing good airmanship would most likely have activated mcas pre lion air, and quite possibly post. Once in the mcas trap I'd say it's 50/50 they'd get out of it at low altitude. See my previous post for why. So your constant assertions of 'just fly the plane' don't really cut it.
Again I think everyone agrees with you that there needs to be more emphasis on hand flying skills throughout the whole industry and that 200h is ludicrous for a FO.