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Ethiopian airliner down in Africa

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Ethiopian airliner down in Africa

Old 10th Mar 2019, 22:56
  #201 (permalink)  
 
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Originally Posted by Hibernia
777 crew behind ET302 at holding point report observing normal takeoff followed shortly by declaration of emergency. They heard ET302 on tower frequency transmitting “Wrong airspeed indications and difficulty controlling aircraft.”
Originally Posted by Tiennetti
FR24 replay shows no 777 behind ET302
Could you give a source for this report? I don't see the 777 on FR24 either.
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Old 10th Mar 2019, 22:56
  #202 (permalink)  
 
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Originally Posted by silverstrata
Which is much the same as the Indonesian Max.
The airspeed was ok, of course, but the stick shaker going off and the MCAS anti-stall trim going off, tends to make you think the airspeed is wrong. So how much of a briefing have Max crews been given, on the inadvertent operation of the MCAS system?

Touch of the deja-vus, I would say. See my comment above, about the absurdity of the MCAS system.

Silver
The MCAS AD came out 6 monthes ago. It was supposed to be an interim measure with software change to permanently resolved the issue coming Jan 2019. The software update to permanently address the issue did not happen I believe...
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Old 10th Mar 2019, 22:57
  #203 (permalink)  
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Picture - what are the memory items and pitch/power settings on the Max for UAS below thrust reduction altitude and above it. Presumably it’s all autos OFF as well? So, potentially application of UAS memory items with an inadvertent flap retraction due to suspected (but erroneous) overspeed and you now have a clean wing, no auto pilot, a high AOA trying to reduce the “overspeed”.......into MCAS territory?

A4
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Old 10th Mar 2019, 23:12
  #204 (permalink)  
 
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Originally Posted by Hibernia
777 crew behind ET302 at holding point report observing normal takeoff followed shortly by declaration of emergency. They heard ET302 on tower frequency transmitting “Wrong airspeed indications and difficulty controlling aircraft.”
Is there any particular reason why you have chosen not to identify the source of that report ?

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Old 10th Mar 2019, 23:13
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Originally Posted by SigWit
IF this is the MCAS fault again, then the consequences will be enormous, probably a grounding of the MAX fleet.
In a previous thread in Tech Log, I was fairly vocal regarding the grounding of all 737 Max aircraft. Particularly when it was revealed that disabling of the MCAS was dissimilar to the disabling of a “pitch trim” fault in the NG. While there was a lot of discussion surrounding how what sensor should be fitted where, even to the extent of some pretty impressive technical diagrams, the fact remains that the apparent failure of a sensor created a situation where the crew were unable to prevent their aircraft from descending uncontrollably, and crashing violently.

Now if this latest tragedy is something else, I’ll be happy to stand corrected. But the similarities seem disturbing to say the least.
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Old 10th Mar 2019, 23:17
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Originally Posted by MungoP
We have no ideas beyond some possibly educated guess-work as to what happened here but I do have a question that can be answered by someone with the relevant experience. As a 10,000 + hr career pilot I'm not exactly a newby but have not any experience with the latest sophisticated systems being introduced on modern aircraft.
Q. Is there something preventing pilots of these aircraft from simply hitting a 'disconnect' button, listening for the 'C' tone and then getting on with flying manually ? Not suggesting that this is relevant to this accident.
A: the trim disconnect switches found directly on the center pedestal within easy reach will disconnect the ability of the MCAS system from trimming against pilot input.
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Old 10th Mar 2019, 23:21
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Originally Posted by KRUSTY 34


In a previous thread in Tech Log, I was fairly vocal regarding the grounding of all 737 Max aircraft. Particularly when it was revealed that disabling of the MCAS was dissimilar to the disabling of a “pitch trim” fault in the NG. While there was a lot of discussion surrounding how what sensor should be fitted where, even to the extent of some pretty impressive technical diagrams, the fact remains that the apparent failure of a sensor created a situation where the crew were unable to prevent their aircraft from descending uncontrollably, and crashing violently.

Now if this latest tragedy is something else, I’ll be happy to stand corrected. But the similarities seem disturbing to say the least.
it is not dissimilar from a trim runway though, MCAS can be disabled in seconds using the standard trim runway procedure that has you flip two switches on the center pedestal.
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Old 10th Mar 2019, 23:22
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Another chapter in the US-China trade war?

Rumour is China has suspended all 737-800 ops in the wake of ET302, no doubt more to follow.
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Old 10th Mar 2019, 23:22
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China has asked its domestic airlines to ground all 737 Max.

(Bloomberg) -- China asked domestic airlines to temporarily ground Boeing 737 Max after a same model operated by Ethiopian Airlines crashed on Sunday, Caijing reports, citing an unidentified industry participant.
  • NOTE: The Sunday crash is the second deadly accident for the model in 5 months
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Old 10th Mar 2019, 23:29
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Originally Posted by canyonblue737


it is not dissimilar from a trim runway though, MCAS can be disabled in seconds using the standard trim runway procedure that has you flip two switches on the center pedestal.
Fair enough.

But apparently beyond the capabilities of at least one crew?
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Old 10th Mar 2019, 23:32
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Originally Posted by Burleigh Effect
Rumour is China has suspended all 737-800 ops in the wake of ET302, no doubt more to follow.
737-800 or 737 MAX 8???
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Old 10th Mar 2019, 23:33
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Originally Posted by CONSO
Doesn't that mean the crew (777) was still on ground taxiway ?
Yep, the holding point is on the ground just short of the runway. You would normally have tower frequency tuned waiting for your instructions to taxi onto the runway for takeoff.

Depending on terrain, receiver coverage and other factors sometimes you can see aircraft on the ground with FR24, sometimes you can't. And, even if you don't see the plane on the ground, you will normally see it when airborne after takeoff.

At ADD the ground coverage seems to be intermittent but I don't see a 777 within the minutes after the ET302 departure at about 0537Z.

Here is ET302 turning onto the runway:




The next departure I see about five minutes later is a B-788:


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Old 10th Mar 2019, 23:34
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Originally Posted by rabidstoat
737-800 or 737 MAX 8???
Correction - it’s the 737-8 MAX.

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Old 10th Mar 2019, 23:35
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300 and something deaths in 80,000 flights is not acceptable in 2019.
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Old 10th Mar 2019, 23:46
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Originally Posted by svhar
300 and something deaths in 80,000 flights is not acceptable in 2019.
No deaths are acceptable ever. But so far no one knows what the cause of this crash was and if it was related to type. Nonetheless it's understandable these days that there will calls or requirements to ground the type.
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Old 10th Mar 2019, 23:54
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But everything points that way. Waiting two years for a final report might cost some more hundreds deaths.
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Old 11th Mar 2019, 00:14
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Originally Posted by svhar
But everything points that way. Waiting two years for a final report might cost some more hundreds deaths.
If I recall correctly, many people made very early calls regarding the causes behind JT610. The vast majority of these (if not all) pointed the finger at the aircrew - I’m not saying Indo does not have systemic aviation safety issues - only to find after initial investigations that MCAS probably was a causal factor. With the number of foreigners on board you can be assured they will make some initial determinations pretty quickly.
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Old 11th Mar 2019, 00:17
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Aerobatic, crop spraying and fighter aircraft have to be unstable to allow for rapid maneuverability. A crop sprayer pilot described flying the Ayers Turbo Thrush to me as "like balancing on a beach ball".

Some of the latest fighters are so unstable that they have to be fly by wire or control would be rapidly lost by most pilots.

The certification requirement of not needing undue "skill, alertness or strength" needs to be remembered. IF the MCAS has to be watched like a hawk and requires a couple of night club bouncers to overcome a simple failure then it has no place on a civil aircraft. Imagine two slightly built female pilots trying to overcome a runaway system.
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Old 11th Mar 2019, 00:31
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Originally Posted by krismiler
Aerobatic, crop spraying and fighter aircraft have to be unstable to allow for rapid maneuverability. A crop sprayer pilot described flying the Ayers Turbo Thrush to me as "like balancing on a beach ball".

Some of the latest fighters are so unstable that they have to be fly by wire or control would be rapidly lost by most pilots.

The certification requirement of not needing undue "skill, alertness or strength" needs to be remembered. IF the MCAS has to be watched like a hawk and requires a couple of night club bouncers to overcome a simple failure then it has no place on a civil aircraft. Imagine two slightly built female pilots trying to overcome a runaway system.
What I don't understand is that if you have an MCAS failure and recognize it and apply the AD from FAA/Boeing they don't tell you to be worried about the flight regimes it is supposed to protect you from. Why not turn the thing off all Max now if that can be done even if this occurrence was not due to an MCAS failure.
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Old 11th Mar 2019, 00:32
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Originally Posted by jimtx
What I don't understand is that if you have an MCAS failure and recognize it and apply the AD from FAA/Boeing they don't tell you to be worried about the flight regimes it is supposed to protect you from. Why not turn the thing off all Max now if that can be done even if this occurrence was not due to an MCAS failure.
The certification requires MCAS.
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