Captain Bloggs
The statistics are not in your favour.
How many millions of sectors would 777’s have operated? Approx 2300 aircraft in the fleet and 30+/- years of service. Rough guess, in excess of 20 million. Of those 2300 one came to grief due to engine/fuel component design and abnormal temperature operation (BA), One had a major disassembly after someone got angry (MH). One mishandled a go around (EK). One operated to Nirvana (MH) . My point is, that this is a crazy good aircraft that is able to be successfully operated by pilots of all calibres and backgrounds, with a high degree of success. To my simple mind it must have been well designed. It may not be the newest nor the most technically able but it is a good, effective, bit of kit, when operated in accordance with the instructions on the packet.
If
FullWings is correct (and I have no reason to doubt him), the anomaly would appear to be resolved.
But in the retrospect, you have sought to malign a great product, in service for 30 years, designed closer to 40 years ago of which the NTSB says
“… the 777 remains one of the safest aircraft of all time,…”.
And you impugned all the pilots and operators of those aircraft.
There has been an issue with a lack of comprehension of the functionality and control of, some of the systems, but of the over 2300 built and delivered there have been
none of the losses that have been attributed to system failures.
The NTSB stated in respect of Asiana 214 ;
3.2 Probable Cause The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the flight crew’s mismanagementof the airplane’s descent during the visual approach, the pilot flying’s unintended deactivation of automatic airspeed control, the flight crew’s inadequate monitoring of airspeed, and the flight crew’s delayed execution of a go-around after they became aware that the airplane was below acceptable glidepath and airspeed tolerances
Further
I believe setting the stage for the crash was expectancy; the pilot flying expected the airplane to do something that it wasn’t designed to do. Specifically, he expected the autothrottle system to provide speed control for him, but unbeknownst to him, the system would not do so while in a HOLD mode.
And
The NTSB Board members unanimously determined that “the complexities of the autothrottle and autopilot flight director systems that were inadequately described in Boeing’s documentation and Asiana’s pilot training, which increased the likelihood of mode error.”
And
In spite of the unintuitive design feature from a pilot’s perspective, and in spite of the determination that an autothrottle wake up feature would probably have prevented the crash, the majority of the Board voted (3 to 1) against a recommendation proposed by staff and supported vigorously by me to require Boeing to redesign the system.
And
Guidance for Asiana pilots on use of flight directors during a visual approach. During the accident flight, after the A/P was disconnected, the PM loosely followed Asiana’s informal practice, which was to turn both flight directors (F/Ds) off and then turn the PM’s F/D back on when conducting a visual approach. However, the two F/D switches were not both in the off position at the same time. If they had been, the A/T mode would have changed to speed mode and maintained the approach speed of 137 knots. In addition, during a visual approach, F/D pitch and roll guidance is not needed and can be a distraction.
To use the outcome as a reason to s**t can the aircraft and it’s designers is disingenuous.
In my view your attitude in declaring this aircraft and it’s systems as
dangerous and
unsafe (stupid) is unhelpful, it is not reflective of the facts and importantly, it is dismissive of
all it’s crews as you are inferring that all are
knowingly operating dangerous equipment in a dangerous manner and abrogating their duty of care to their passengers. In other words you are assigning culpability. It is my view that you are probably not qualified to do so. If you genuinely feel that the aircraft is “stupid” and operation thereof is “unsafe”, you have a moral obligation to make your concerns known, to the relevant authorities. Have you done so? If not, you are part of the problem, not part of the solution.
I would suggest that rather than shouting about stupidity, you should, rather, take a sip of the ‘aide, sit, and quietly reflect on whether or not your intemperance is appropriate or justified. A good read for you while you contemplate your navel, would be the NTSB report on Asiana 214.
Maui