To the several posters commenting that the "Turn of the Magic" piece of the mantra is inappropriate during this malfunction, let me make a couple of observations:
.
- "Turn of the Magic" on the 737 refers specifically to the Autopilot, Autothrottles, Flight Director, and Flight Path Vector. Other aircraft may have a different list. It does not refer to turning off MCAS, because obviously, there is no off switch for MCAS. However, the "Trim the Aircraft" step will definitely override MCAS input until the crew has the time to execute the Runaway Stab Trim procedure.
- The post-Lion Air 610 AD (posted above) says quite explicitly that the autopilot may not remain engaged, a fact demonstrated three times by the Ethiopian Captain. In this malfunction, the autopilot will not be there to save you. This critique also assumes that the flight crew was aware of MCAS and the items that inhibit its activation. If that were the case, the best recourse was not to engage the autopilot, but to leave the flaps extended.
- To those who have said that the mantra is not the best way to handle an MCAS failure, I AGREE! The best way to have handled this malfunction was for the crew to execute the Airspeed Unreliable NNC and leave the flaps extended. They did not.
Read the preamble to the mantra again:
"When presented with an undesired aircraft state, unknown malfunction or ambiguous warning, or a loss of situational awareness...,"
The going-in assumption is the crew DOES NOT KNOW what the correct procedure is because they haven't correctly identified the problem.
I can't stress this strongly enough. You don't get to the mantra if you know what the malfunction is. You don't get to the mantra if you are already applying to the appropriate procedure.
You get to the mantra when you don't understand what is going on. I think it is clear from the data that the ET302 crew did not understand their situation. In that case, if the Captain had simply:
.
Turned off the Magic, Set the Pitch, Set the Power, Trimmed the Aircraft, Monitored the Performance, and Moved the Aircraft to a Safe Altitude,
.
that is, if he had FLOWN THE AIRCRAFT until such time that he could determine what the malfunction and appropriate procedure was, we would not be having this conversation today.