Originally Posted by
Centaurus
FDR,
Fascinating and thank you for your erudite explanation of what happens in the real aircraft rather than a simulator.
You are too kind, sir. "Verbose" could be a simile for "Erudite", for which I apologise, this is my industry, for better or worse, and discourse is at least provocative to opinions.
The take home from my observations is that the 737 is, in the end, just an aircraft. It handles adequately, I have never been fond of its ailerons, but that is a personal conceit, CEO's/CFO's love them. The stall behaviour is benign, and to a point, operations beyond VMO/MMO are reasonable. Older aircraft, there are some I have not been prepared to take to the normal limit without rework. The NG is a competent cockpit, and the plane does a good job. I don't see that the MAX will be much different, once we have returned to normal, and learn what needs to be learnt. The manufacturer has not done itself any favours in the MCAS saga, they should have opened up from day one, and engaged with stakeholders rather than attempting to limit blowback to their legal standing. When understood and trained, remembering the lessons forgotten from the early years of these aircraft, the manual trim issue can be mitigated.
The events around the MAX have been unfortunate. The industry was quite prepared to blame the crews, the OEM did, the FAA did, elected officials of the US congress did, and many voices on this forum were strident in their accusations on the crews competence. That is disappointing, but in keeping with what occurs routinely in this "enlightened" industry, one that spends so much time with corporate policy statements, and pledges to honesty and integrity, of valuing the employers, and assurance of "Just Culture". IMHO, "Just Culture" is to be found on the label of yoghurt containers, but remains lacking in our industry, from the regulators through the OEM's to the operators. We are diminished accordingly.
It's miller time.