China Eastern 737-800 MU5735 accident March 2022

[FWRWATPLX2]

China Eastern 737-800 MU5735 accident March 202

When I was flying in China, the crew would typically comprise of a very junior First Officer and a slightly less junior First Officer, trained in either the US or Australia. They would return to China and their FAA or CASA Pilot License would be taken off of them or voluntarily surrendered. They would be under the thumb of crusty ol' dudes who had no clue about CRM and TEM, would shout at them and insult them, sometimes they would be hit. I have personally witnessed the shouting and insults, while flying jump seat. For a Chinese pilot to fly for the airline and certainly before they become Captain, they must join the Communist Party of China -as if that has any relevance to serving as a flight crewmember. The airline management would fine them or penalize their pay IF they called in sick or told Crew Scheduling they had insufficient Crew Rest. I constantly flew with young Chinese FOs who were sick or grossly fatigued (not more than 4 hours sleep). These young FOs barely spoke English, though some were better than others. By the time I would fly with them they had 750 to 2,500 flying hours. They would be considered for Captain upgrade after 2,500 flying hours. One of my functions was to sign the Chinese FOs Pilot Logbook to certify their flying hours. Whenever I discovered any exaggeration or erroneous entries, overstating what we/they did, I would refuse to sign their Pilot Logbook, unless they changed it. I found most of the FOs were pretty timid. The more junior they were, the more timid they were, though I had one new FO decide he would change my fuel order, because he believed he knew better with his whopping 750 flying hours. I would typically fly with one FO outbound and they would swap seats and I would fly with the former jump seat FO, inbound. I flew with about 200 FOs. I would guess that 10% were cooperative and I felt they had real potential as aviators. Half of that number I would consider as friends and had the potential to become great pilots.

I asked many FOs why they became pilots and told those who offered pathetic replies or who did it for the uniform or salary or to make their their daddy and mommy or girlfriend proud, that they should consider another career, like driving a taxi. Another Asian airline I flew with, we were operating a Heavy Crew. I would fly the crap weather and make the approach and landing at a snowbound airport, then fly the jump seat, to LAX, and fly us back to Asia, after our Crew Rest. So, dig this situation . . . The Asian Captain who replaced me, a very nice guy, too nice was a retired Major in his country's Air Force. His Asian First Officer from the snowbound airport to LAX was a retired Brigadier General in the Air Force. I refer to them as Captain-Major and General FO. Cathay Pacific was parked opposite direction and de-icing. Falling snow, ramp and taxiways covered with frozen snow and slush, text book definition of Icing Conditions. The European Cruise Captain just completed external preflight of our 744. He invited me to go outside to show me the aircraft would in fact need to be de-iced, when he asked me, General FO, said, "No need." Have you EVER heard of an FO telling a Captain what to do or making decisions for him? I went outside and yep, it needed de-icing. I came back inside and asked Captain-Major, if he would like to take a look for himself, when General FO said, "No need." I was effing livid. I grabbed the SOP, the Boeing Manual, removed the pertinent pages, lifted the Yoke clip and let lit loudly snap and told him to read it. "There is a need." Guess what his reply was? "No need." I looked to Captain-Major, and he looked like a spent dick, shriveled and withdrawn into his seat.

THIS IS WHAT GOES ON IN ASIAN COCKPITS, though the power gradient is not often weighted toward the FO . . . That particular FO was the senior most FO at the airline and for whatever reason could not be upgraded to Captain, yet ruled the roost -except when flying with me and he couldn't fly well, at all. I gave him an opportunity to show me how great he was at Cruise, Autopilot Off. General Dick!

So, relate the aforementioned to MU5735.

Lastly, for consideration, Andreas Lubitz, (GermanWings) passed the DLR, which has a high failure rate. The MMPI, NEO-PI-R, FFM, PILAPT, COMPASS, and consider the most stringent test with about an 8% pass rate, the DLR, did not predict the actions of Andreas Lubitz. Suppose after an airline pilot takes and passes one of the Psych Tests with flying colors, but develops a terminal cancer or some other disease that is a death sentence and he has nothing to live for . . . Would any of those Psych Tests predict the terminal illness and the change in that pilot's mental health. NO! In fact, the authors or designers of those Psych Tests would not have a clue what makes a pilot or what it takes to be(come) a pilot. According to the studies done for the US Army, to predict who would make the best candidates and who would be likely to graduate, I would have been on the bottom of the Bell Curve, my Senior TAC told me I would not make it and that he wanted my resignation on his desk. I snapped to attention, saluted, and replied, "You will have to kill me first. I will not resign." I graduated with my class. In fact I was the first Class Leader and held the position the longest. Not only did I graduate with my original classmates, I was offered my first choice assignment. I bounced from that springboard to become a Captain flying Boeing 747-400, 747-300, 747-200, 737-800, and 737-700 transport category jets. Our last Class Leader and Honor Grad had not even accomplished that during his aviation career. Thus, I standby the aforementioned statement, In fact, the authors or designers of those Psych Tests would not have a clue what makes a pilot or what it takes to be(come) a pilot. You have to believe in yourself and you have to have a real passion for it, probably since boyhood.