I'm just going to put this out there, as I have heard several on this board complain in the past about the decline in flying skills -- airmanship -- of some of today's newer commercial pilots, the limited to non-existent time pilots have for engaging in actual hands-on, manual flying, etc.
Subtitle for this article: Malfunctions caused two deadly crashes. But an industry that puts unprepared pilots in the cockpit is just as guilty.
The paradox is that the failures of the 737 Max were really the product of an incredible success: a decades-long transformation of the whole business of flying, in which airplanes became so automated and accidents so rare that a cheap air-travel boom was able to take root around the world. Along the way, though, this system never managed to fully account for the unexpected: for the moment when technology fails and humans — a growing population of more than 300,000 airline pilots of variable and largely unpredictable skills — are required to intervene. In the drama of the 737 Max, it was the decisions made by four of those pilots, more than the failure of a single obscure component, that led to 346 deaths and the worldwide grounding of the entire fleet.
What Really Brought Down the Boeing 737 Max?
Writer is a former pilot.