What prevented regaining control?
Training?
Simple mechanical failure?
Robot gone made or become counterproductive?
Simple human error?
Man Machine Interface issues?
Complex human error?
I'll reserve judgement/comment on what the crew may or may not have done until the final report is released. I'd however, like to say this. In my limited experience of flying non-jet a/c, I have come to believe that good airmanship is all about staying ahead of the a/c. Here I have to agree with the
sentiment expressed by deSitter earlier in the thread. If I had a choice, I'd prefer to fly a/c without automatisms. Alas! thats not a choice we have anymore. Why the lament you ask?
In the a/c that I've flown with even a semblance of automation, the implementation is too-often half-assed (from a pilots standpoint that is). To be clear, the automation is perfectly logical and always does the
right thing, but it is not designed to involve the pilot. And for a good reason. The man-machine interface will quickly get complicated, if it did. Nevertheless, the end result is that, once the pilot falls behind the a/c, it become difficult for him/her to catch up. And my guess would be that the more complex the automation, the more unlikely the pilots will ever be able to catch up.
Lets take the subject at hand. How would I have designed the man-machine interface in a situation like this. The a/c would "recognize" that there is a significant weather system ahead and alert me (the pilot) about it. At this stage, I'd be more aware of the situation (if I already wasn't) and be in anticipation of some of the issues that may come up. (Just to be clear, I'd choose to manually fly the a/c)
For this the a/c would need an auto-scan radar at a minimum. Ironically, if I were to trust the aircraft with handling a situation like this, I'd have to have enough confidence in the automation to anticipate. i.e. more automation not less. We are bordering on AI here, so I'll leave it at that.
But, the interesting question is, lets say the pilots (for whatever reason) failed to recognize that they were going to fly into the storm and were caught with their pants down, can you blame the a/c for doing the same?
It seems to me the only way out of this conundrum is for the a/c and pilot to work together, and a
man+machine interface that makes it possible. Its the a/c
and the pilot, not a/c
or the pilot.
As my professor used to say, two brains is better than half a brain...