Ethiopian airliner down in Africa
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At the end of this it doesn't matter what you all think the training should be or will be. Each Airline has to do an assessment and think about what their crew needs are. I know a couple of major Airlines that haven't done a Runaway Stab event in years so I would say they may revisit that.
Certainly at the end it will be public opinion that determines a lot of this. Good luck to the CEO of any airline operating MAX's that says we only did the CBT as that is all the FAA said to do. The Twitter feedback will be huge...
Certainly at the end it will be public opinion that determines a lot of this. Good luck to the CEO of any airline operating MAX's that says we only did the CBT as that is all the FAA said to do. The Twitter feedback will be huge...
Boeing cut cost by patching big engines on an old airframe design, requiring MCAS to be certified. Boeing crippled (let me know if you find a better word) MCAS to limit training / certification costs. There's only so much you can do to cut costs before bad things happen, and it looks like they still don't get it by not going back to the drawing board and think that "fixing" MCAS is enough. At the very least, they redesign MCAS properly with all the necessary training, and if it means a new type rating, so be it. Time will tell !
All we do know is that MCAS was the option Boeing decided to use to get the MAX certified - now "the fix" servery decreases the MCAS to be active. So the question is how can it still operate in the certification limits?
After that what training (or other limits) are required. ???
It seems possible to remove MCAS requirement by a minimum weight limit and/or a AFT C of G limit - but they have never been mentioned as part of the "fix".
This whole 737 Max debacle is a result of the executive management MO industry wide, Manufacturers, Airlines, Maintenance Organisations, Regulators, Training Organisations.......They are all run by people who gain financially when costs are cut, and who don’t really understand the risks they are charged with mitigating.
It’ll be addressed one day but only when jets are falling out of the sky at twice the rate they are now.
It’ll be addressed one day but only when jets are falling out of the sky at twice the rate they are now.
Silent witnesses
Rumors concerning whistleblower reports about the AoA sensor are emerging.
"One whistleblower reported to the FAA that they had seen damage to the electrical wiring connected to the plane’s angle of attack sensor from a foreign object, which feeds data to the MCAS system so it can determine whether it needs to engage to prevent the plane from stalling. "
https://interestingengineering.com/b...roblems-to-faa
Edmund
"One whistleblower reported to the FAA that they had seen damage to the electrical wiring connected to the plane’s angle of attack sensor from a foreign object, which feeds data to the MCAS system so it can determine whether it needs to engage to prevent the plane from stalling. "
https://interestingengineering.com/b...roblems-to-faa
Edmund
Alternative
Specifically: Boeing designed and placed into service an airplane with an active control system that had unilateral control over the horizontal stabilizer, with enough authority to place the airplane in an unrecoverable state if just a single component failed. Further this system gave no indication to the pilots that it was operating, or when malfunctioning that it was operating in error. Additionally this system, which was created solely to increase the amount of force required to pitch up the aircraft at high AOA used the most critical part of the airframe to do this minimal task, instead of using a passive system that had no control authority
Yep. So it is. And still they are faffing around with MCAS to get it recertified.
The only honest way out of this, and it isn’t cheap, is a dedicated feel augmentation within the control run. Can be a spring, or a feel unit mod, as suggested way back, but not yet more tampering with the stabiliser.
I never liked the STS on the 300 and since then B have made use of stab tinkering for other sorts of cases - tankers etc. When we did a max fuel transfer on the Victor, we had to keep both of the aircraft in trim - and we did this by trimming as required, without some background programme interfering.
I guess the most important phrase here is isn’t cheap.
These days that is enough reason for not doing the honest solution.
Yep. So it is. And still they are faffing around with MCAS to get it recertified.
The only honest way out of this, and it isn’t cheap, is a dedicated feel augmentation within the control run. Can be a spring, or a feel unit mod, as suggested way back, but not yet more tampering with the stabiliser.
I never liked the STS on the 300 and since then B have made use of stab tinkering for other sorts of cases - tankers etc. When we did a max fuel transfer on the Victor, we had to keep both of the aircraft in trim - and we did this by trimming as required, without some background programme interfering.
I guess the most important phrase here is isn’t cheap.
These days that is enough reason for not doing the honest solution.
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Gums,
As I understand it, when designing the A320 Airbus toyed with the idea of reduced stability, citing FBW as the "excuse". The whole world raised a regulatory eyebrow and Airbus designed a fully stable aircraft.
Ironically, Boeing designed a less than stable aircraft with a bit of bolt on, undocumented FBW, and the world continued to rotate, until two crashed.
As I understand it, when designing the A320 Airbus toyed with the idea of reduced stability, citing FBW as the "excuse". The whole world raised a regulatory eyebrow and Airbus designed a fully stable aircraft.
Ironically, Boeing designed a less than stable aircraft with a bit of bolt on, undocumented FBW, and the world continued to rotate, until two crashed.
Most of the mods carried out on the 737 since it was introduced were to increase its profitability not safety. In fact it could be argued that some of the mods have even reduced its safety. Im sure Boeing are now wishing theyd developed a completely new aircraft instead.
Last edited by Sucram; 27th Apr 2019 at 09:49.
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Specifically: Boeing designed and placed into service an airplane with an active control system that had unilateral control over the horizontal stabilizer, with enough authority to place the airplane in an unrecoverable state if just a single component failed. Further this system gave no indication to the pilots that it was operating, or when malfunctioning that it was operating in error. Additionally this system, which was created solely to increase the amount of force required to pitch up the aircraft at high AOA used the most critical part of the airframe to do this minimal task, instead of using a passive system that had no control authority
Yep. So it is. And still they are faffing around with MCAS to get it recertified.
The only honest way out of this, and it isn’t cheap, is a dedicated feel augmentation within the control run. Can be a spring, or a feel unit mod, as suggested way back, but not yet more tampering with the stabiliser.
I never liked the STS on the 300 and since then B have made use of stab tinkering for other sorts of cases - tankers etc. When we did a max fuel transfer on the Victor, we had to keep both of the aircraft in trim - and we did this by trimming as required, without some background programme interfering.
I guess the most important phrase here is isn’t cheap.
These days that is enough reason for not doing the honest solution.
Yep. So it is. And still they are faffing around with MCAS to get it recertified.
The only honest way out of this, and it isn’t cheap, is a dedicated feel augmentation within the control run. Can be a spring, or a feel unit mod, as suggested way back, but not yet more tampering with the stabiliser.
I never liked the STS on the 300 and since then B have made use of stab tinkering for other sorts of cases - tankers etc. When we did a max fuel transfer on the Victor, we had to keep both of the aircraft in trim - and we did this by trimming as required, without some background programme interfering.
I guess the most important phrase here is isn’t cheap.
These days that is enough reason for not doing the honest solution.
I previously pointed out that any system that takes a small input such as AOA, and produces a large output (whether feel or trim), is inherently undesirable and unpredictable. MCAS creates a semblance of smoothness by applying trim over a 10 second interval. Applying such a delay into elevator feel would create all kinds of feedback lags, and the solution could be worse than the problem.
The cost issue with any non-software change is how many years that would take to design, test and certify, and what production would be done in the meantime? Boeing have painted themselves into a corner, and the only way out seems to be double or quits (to mix metaphors).
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I'm an engineer and a pilot. The responsibility is with Boeing/FAA, no question. Yes the ET302 crew could have done a few things different. But they had 6 minutes. In a little box in the sky, where the wrong answer meant death, with alarms going off, and not just useful alarms but alarms telling them to do the opposite of what they needed.
You train pilots to trust in safety systems, trust in automation, follow the checklists, follow the SOPs. They do this every day successfully for years. Then you expect them to instantly drop this and distrust all the safety systems and automation, work out which one is faulty and what to do about it, while simultaneously hand flying an aircraft that's behaving like they have never experienced before in any of the hand flying they've done.
Boeing had plenty of time, in nice safe offices that weren't about to crash into the ground, to get this right.
You train pilots to trust in safety systems, trust in automation, follow the checklists, follow the SOPs. They do this every day successfully for years. Then you expect them to instantly drop this and distrust all the safety systems and automation, work out which one is faulty and what to do about it, while simultaneously hand flying an aircraft that's behaving like they have never experienced before in any of the hand flying they've done.
Boeing had plenty of time, in nice safe offices that weren't about to crash into the ground, to get this right.
'Good' engineers really shouldn't abrogate their responsibilities nor discharge them to other professionals working in a much less benign environment
However, one does feel a strong sense of 'modern management' involvement, possibly even interference.
All the good wartime and post war management methodologies seem to have been thrown out the window since the 90s and this fundamentally US trend of ignoring rhe importance of 'Domain Knowledge' has long since corrupted the UK and I assume, elsewhere. I understand Japanese industry were taught good disciplines postwar and hopefully have resisted the worst trends of Managementitis coming I imagine, from US academia and unwisely encouraged by shareholder pressure.
Apologies for waxing philosophic.. .but I cannot divorce an innate sense of betrayal over the years from what I see through this MCAS lens, though MCAS is only a sympton.
Last edited by HarryMann; 27th Apr 2019 at 11:10.
A feel augmentation system that takes AOA as input, what could possibly go wrong? I'm sure others can give scenarios where this would be a bad idea...
I previously pointed out that any system that takes a small input such as AOA, and produces a large output (whether feel or trim), is inherently undesirable and unpredictable. MCAS creates a semblance of smoothness by applying trim over a 10 second interval. Applying such a delay into elevator feel would create all kinds of feedback lags, and the solution could be worse than the problem.
The cost issue with any non-software change is how many years that would take to design, test and certify, and what production would be done in the meantime? Boeing have painted themselves into a corner, and the only way out seems to be double or quits (to mix metaphors).
I previously pointed out that any system that takes a small input such as AOA, and produces a large output (whether feel or trim), is inherently undesirable and unpredictable. MCAS creates a semblance of smoothness by applying trim over a 10 second interval. Applying such a delay into elevator feel would create all kinds of feedback lags, and the solution could be worse than the problem.
The cost issue with any non-software change is how many years that would take to design, test and certify, and what production would be done in the meantime? Boeing have painted themselves into a corner, and the only way out seems to be double or quits (to mix metaphors).
Although I didn’t mention AoA as an input in that post, if you need to know AoA in order to correct elevator feel, then clearly you have to measure it. Done properly (dual input and monitor) and maintained correctly it is a valid measurement as used for years on many aircraft.
You could also ask what could possibly go wrong with a pitot system. There are probably more examples of failure in that system and yet it is universally used.
At some point you have to trust something for your data, so make it as reliable as you can and maintain it well.
As for feedback lags and delays, a spring is a wonderful reliable input which can be linearly or dynamically calibrated, and is used in many control run applications. The ten second interval used by MCAS would not apply - as long as the condition remained, the spring would stay compressed. As the condition decreased, so would the spring force. Qed. There are other force generators available, based on hydraulics or pneumatics although a spring is simple and less reliant on other systems.
Main thing is to have the force generated within the control run rather than by potentially powerful MCAS stab. movement (which still needs AoA input).
B
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You do understand MCAS is a requirement for flight within certification requirements?
With MCAS disabled (due now to any of a number of reasons) - how is flight within certification requirement limits meet?
Nothing at all to do with any trim event (Important you understand that) but what is flight like outside the certifiable limits?
With MCAS disabled (due now to any of a number of reasons) - how is flight within certification requirement limits meet?
Nothing at all to do with any trim event (Important you understand that) but what is flight like outside the certifiable limits?
There are are a whole lot of systems that can and have failed on numerous aircraft that technically put that aircraft out of its limits for certification. You would never depart with failed engines, failed hydraulic systems, failed tires, etc. However, they do and have failed, and we have procedures in place to deal with those failures.
To your specific question of how one could possibly fly the 737 with a known MCAS failure once they fix the runaway stab thingy....., well how about staying away from the edge of the envelope and not stalling the aircraft?
Last edited by 737 Driver; 27th Apr 2019 at 18:44.
Point of order.
There are are a whole lot of systems that can and have failed on numerous aircraft that technically put that aircraft out of its limits for certification. You would never depart with failed engines, failed hydraulic systems, failed tires, etc. However, they do and have failed, and we have procedures in place to deal with those failures.
To your specific question of how one could possibly fly the 737 with a known MCAS failure once they fix the runaway stab thingy....., well how about staying away from the edge of the envelope an not stalling the aircraft?
There are are a whole lot of systems that can and have failed on numerous aircraft that technically put that aircraft out of its limits for certification. You would never depart with failed engines, failed hydraulic systems, failed tires, etc. However, they do and have failed, and we have procedures in place to deal with those failures.
To your specific question of how one could possibly fly the 737 with a known MCAS failure once they fix the runaway stab thingy....., well how about staying away from the edge of the envelope an not stalling the aircraft?
Just no mention of it in the fix.
As you are vocal and seems a very competent 737 pilot (certainly seems that way by your posts)
Can you detail how the/you cockpit would have responded after take off of the ET flight with you as Captain and with the 2-300 hr FO - who's job was who's when and why ?
Not a trap question just very interested.
Starting from the first warning you get and when you would accept it as a warning or a failure.
Thanks for detailed answers in reply (others let him reply and answer - he is clearly a very competent pilot on type)
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Hi Gordon,
Although I didn’t mention AoA as an input in that post, if you need to know AoA in order to correct elevator feel, then clearly you have to measure it. Done properly (dual input and monitor) and maintained correctly it is a valid measurement as used for years on many aircraft.
You could also ask what could possibly go wrong with a pitot system. There are probably more examples of failure in that system and yet it is universally used.
At some point you have to trust something for your data, so make it as reliable as you can and maintain it well.
As for feedback lags and delays, a spring is a wonderful reliable input which can be linearly or dynamically calibrated, and is used in many control run applications. The ten second interval used by MCAS would not apply - as long as the condition remained, the spring would stay compressed. As the condition decreased, so would the spring force. Qed. There are other force generators available, based on hydraulics or pneumatics although a spring is simple and less reliant on other systems.
Main thing is to have the force generated within the control run rather than by potentially powerful MCAS stab. movement (which still needs AoA input).
B
Although I didn’t mention AoA as an input in that post, if you need to know AoA in order to correct elevator feel, then clearly you have to measure it. Done properly (dual input and monitor) and maintained correctly it is a valid measurement as used for years on many aircraft.
You could also ask what could possibly go wrong with a pitot system. There are probably more examples of failure in that system and yet it is universally used.
At some point you have to trust something for your data, so make it as reliable as you can and maintain it well.
As for feedback lags and delays, a spring is a wonderful reliable input which can be linearly or dynamically calibrated, and is used in many control run applications. The ten second interval used by MCAS would not apply - as long as the condition remained, the spring would stay compressed. As the condition decreased, so would the spring force. Qed. There are other force generators available, based on hydraulics or pneumatics although a spring is simple and less reliant on other systems.
Main thing is to have the force generated within the control run rather than by potentially powerful MCAS stab. movement (which still needs AoA input).
B
An analogy which I drafted in my comment (but then deleted), explains part of the situation: Imagine a motor vehicle driving down a potholed road, with all the irregularities transmitted to the steering wheel. Normally there is some kind of damper to prevent harsh feedback forces to the driver. Imagine that kind of instantaneous feel in the control column while trying to fly an aircraft?
Given the need for some kind of smoothing of AOA, by definition it would involve a delay or lag between pilot inputs and the feel forces. From a control systems theory viewpoint, delay lags are never a good thing, since they can lead to pilot induced oscillation, and other side-effects.
The opposite scenario, of full-force applied when over a threshold, is harsh and equivalent to a stick-pusher, with its own side-effects, training requirements, and type certification issues.
AFAIK MCAS was designed to avoid both scenarios, by being slow and unilateral. It fulfilled the criteria of not being harsh, nor could it induce short-period oscillations.
Sorry, if I took your comment and ran it to a logical absurdity, but IMO it would not be a simple fix. It really can be hard to explain complex control systems feedback, and I'm sure others can do it better,
However I'm not aware of any stick-pusher that acts on the input of a single sensor, with no redundancy.
Stick-Pusher Philosophy
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When I shared what I did last night it wasn't to expiate the guilt of the crews, but instead to try and get people to realize that "blaming" people who are no longer here to defend themselves is a bit disingenuous, and equally it distracts us from the very real root causes of the two incidents.
There is one huge difference between my position and that expressed most recently by 737 Driver, and that is to the responsibility for the outcome of what happened. Note that I say responsibility and not blame.
The result of this sad effort was a system that, if it failed, would basically try to kill the pilot and everyone on board. I say again: MCAS will try to kill everyone on board if it fails.
I simply cannot recall (but am inviting others here to fill in the blanks if you can) another system on a transport category aircraft with a failure mode that defaulted to "I'm going to try to fly the airplane into the ground.
These incidents, indeed the entirety of MCAS' existence are a failure of corporate responsibility aided and abetted by a complete abrogation of regulatory responsibility. All in the pursuit of profits for shareholders..........Those are the responsible parties, and that is what I hope people will look carefully at. It starts with the airplane. Build a safe one and operators will still find a way to muck things up, and crews will still make mistakes. But step one, the most important step, is build an effing safe airplane.
This is a forum for professional pilots. Yes, we could sit back, point fingers, and opine about how badly someone else screwed up. Or we could take a hard look at our profession and ask why multiple crews had such difficulty and/or reluctance in applying some very basic airmanship techniques to resolve an aircraft malfunction that, while being unique and baffling, ultimately did not render the aircraft unflyable.
Last edited by 737 Driver; 27th Apr 2019 at 12:08.
Safety Recommendations from the investigation report:
Boeing should improve the reliability of the radio altimeter system.
The FAA and EASA should ensure that the undesirable response of the autothrottle and flight management computer caused by incorrect radio altimeter values is evaluated and that the autothrottle and flight management computer is improved in accordance with the design specifications.
The FAA and EASA should ensure that the undesirable response of the autothrottle and flight management computer caused by incorrect radio altimeter values is evaluated and that the autothrottle and flight management computer is improved in accordance with the design specifications.
Boeing designed and placed into service an airplane with an active control system that had unilateral control over the horizontal stabilizer, with enough authority to place the airplane in an unrecoverable state if just a single component failed. Further this system gave no indication to the pilots that it was operating, or when malfunctioning that it was operating in error. Additionally this system, which was created solely to increase the amount of force required to pitch up the aircraft at high AOA used the most critical part of the airframe to do this minimal task, instead of using a passive system that had no control authority.
The result of this sad effort was a system that, if it failed, would basically try to kill the pilot and everyone on board. I say again: MCAS will try to kill everyone on board if it fails.
I simply cannot recall... another system on a transport category aircraft with a failure mode that defaulted to "I'm going to try to fly the airplane into the ground. If you line up all the dots and pull two switches at the right moment I will let you live. Otherwise you die... Oh, and BTW I'm also going to fail concurrently with three or four other systems, which actually will alert you to their issues, unlike me, who will sit here quietly winding your trim forward until you get to the point where you cannot wind it back. Sorry about that!!" (It's also worth noting here that the Emergency AD that was put out only gave instruction on what was essentially an enhanced trim runaway. There is no actual way (that I have seen) for a pilot to actually determine if MCAS is malfunctioning. At best you are to stop the resultant (trim runaway) and remain in ignorance over the state of MCAS. WTF?? A system with complete authority over the horizontal stab and you have no way of knowing anything about it. Failure modes, operational status, errors, nothing. Just "If the airplane is trimming down (for whatever reason) and you don't want it to pull the console switches." Really??)
These incidents, indeed the entirety of MCAS' existence are a failure of corporate responsibility aided and abetted by a complete abrogation of regulatory responsibility.... {But} in the end, the only entity who both could have designed a safe airplane, and who not only failed but by all appearances worked to conceal their failure through omission, was Boeing. And the agency that looked the other way was the FAA.
Those are the responsible parties, and that is what I hope people will look carefully at. It starts with the airplane. Build a safe one and operators will still find a way to muck things up, and crews will still make mistakes. But step one, the most important step, is build an effing safe airplane.
Warm regards,
dce
The result of this sad effort was a system that, if it failed, would basically try to kill the pilot and everyone on board. I say again: MCAS will try to kill everyone on board if it fails.
I simply cannot recall... another system on a transport category aircraft with a failure mode that defaulted to "I'm going to try to fly the airplane into the ground. If you line up all the dots and pull two switches at the right moment I will let you live. Otherwise you die... Oh, and BTW I'm also going to fail concurrently with three or four other systems, which actually will alert you to their issues, unlike me, who will sit here quietly winding your trim forward until you get to the point where you cannot wind it back. Sorry about that!!" (It's also worth noting here that the Emergency AD that was put out only gave instruction on what was essentially an enhanced trim runaway. There is no actual way (that I have seen) for a pilot to actually determine if MCAS is malfunctioning. At best you are to stop the resultant (trim runaway) and remain in ignorance over the state of MCAS. WTF?? A system with complete authority over the horizontal stab and you have no way of knowing anything about it. Failure modes, operational status, errors, nothing. Just "If the airplane is trimming down (for whatever reason) and you don't want it to pull the console switches." Really??)
These incidents, indeed the entirety of MCAS' existence are a failure of corporate responsibility aided and abetted by a complete abrogation of regulatory responsibility.... {But} in the end, the only entity who both could have designed a safe airplane, and who not only failed but by all appearances worked to conceal their failure through omission, was Boeing. And the agency that looked the other way was the FAA.
Those are the responsible parties, and that is what I hope people will look carefully at. It starts with the airplane. Build a safe one and operators will still find a way to muck things up, and crews will still make mistakes. But step one, the most important step, is build an effing safe airplane.
Warm regards,
dce
It counters the apologists' excuses for Boeing's abominable design, and it should silence the criticisms of those who repeatedly try to blame the pilots of those 2 condemned flights / aircraft.
I am sad that it has taken so long for 'dce', 'wonkazoo' to come here to sum this up so perfectly, along with the important lessons for everyone from sharing such a vivid and honest account of their own '***** or bust' moment all those years ago. It takes a special mind to admit to failings with such openness and honesty, and we are all the richer for it. The question is, when will Boeing and the FAA similarly dig deep enough to find similar humility and honesty, and to redress the very clear failings?
Thank you, 'dce' - respect!
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Can you detail how the/you cockpit would have responded after take off of the ET flight with you as Captain and with the 2-300 hr FO - who's job was who's when and why ?
Not a trap question just very interested.
Starting from the first warning you get and when you would accept it as a warning or a failure.
Not a trap question just very interested.
Starting from the first warning you get and when you would accept it as a warning or a failure.
In the case of Ethiopian, however, the answer is quite straightforward. After Lion Air, the existence and potential failure modes of MCAS were made public. This was a very hot topic around my airline as we operated the MAX. We have our own internal message board (not unlike PPRuNE), and different thoughts were kicked around. While there were some pilots who said they would refuse to fly the MAX until a more permanent fix was in place, the general consensus was that there were some basic techniques that could be used to mitigate the threat.
Since MCAS was inhibited by either the A/P or the flaps extended, the primary defense was to make sure you had one or the other. That is, on takeoff one would engage the A/P first and then retract the flaps. On landing, keep the A/P on until some amount of flaps were extended. If during takeoff, but before A/P engagement, you were to experience anything that looked like a failed AOA or unreliable airspeed, then don't retract the flaps. By applying these techniques, MCAS would never have an opportunity to activate. Whether these kind of discussions occurred at Ethiopian is currently unknown, but the information was available to process.
A better question would have been, "How would you have handled this malfunction as a Lion Air pilot who had no knowledge of MCAS?"
I think by now you may have gathered that I'm a hands-on type of pilot, so the answer is pretty much the same one I've been giving all along. Fly the aircraft.
By the numbers then: Stick shaker. WTF?! Check my power (increase as necessary), check my attitude, check my configuration. Is it flying or is it wallowing? If it is wallowing, keep the nose down and accelerate. If its flying, probably a false indication, continue the climb, call for the gear. Cross check instruments. I've got my hands full, so ask my FO to read off what he sees on all three airspeeds. At 400 feet check my roll mode, have FO ask for straight ahead if appropriate and declare emergency. If by now I've determined we have unreliable airspeed, memory items except I'm going to keep takeoff power and 15 degrees pitch until 1000' where I set 10 degrees and 80% N1.
Now I do absolutely nothing except climb to a safe altitude with flaps hanging. Once at a safe altitude, we proceed slowly and methodically through the NNC for Airspeed Unreliable. Quite frankly, I don't know if I would ever retract my flaps in this scenario (and hence no MCAS issue) because I'm going to return to the departure airport for landing.
If I ever did retract the flaps, it would only be after I had a stabilized aircraft. If MCAS then kicked in, I seriously doubt I would let the trim run continuously for 9 seconds before I did something about it. When you do a fair amount of hand-flying, trimming is like breathing. You hardly think about it. Controls get heavy, trim. Apply thrust, trim. Reduce thrust, trim. Enter a turn, trim. Rollout of turn, trim. If MCAS activated, it would probably take a few cycles of back and forth before I realized that something was amiss, but I have never been reluctant to trim as necessary. Eventually I would have made my way to the runaway trim NNC, but would have done so from an in-trim state.
This is not to say that everything would have been executed flawlessly (i.e. good chance I would forget to call for gear initially), but then that's why you want an experienced First Officer to back you up. Personally, I feel that the Ethiopian Airline policy of placing low-time pilots in the right seat of a passenger airline borders on the criminally negligent.
So, to flog the topic one more time..... When presented with an undesired and/or unexpected aircraft state, it is absolutely crucial for the pilot flying to be prepared to revert to basic airmanship skills. Set the pitch. Set the power. Trim the aircraft. Monitor the performance. Adjust as necessary. Get to a safe altitude. Stabilize the aircraft. And then work the problem.
None of this requires "sky god" or "test pilot" level of skill. It simply requires making the conscience decision that you are going to fly the aircraft with the tools that are readily available.
737 driver: Do you not train for those failures in a sim. I think that was what was being suggested for MCAS failure, not just an Ipad brief
Last edited by maxter; 27th Apr 2019 at 12:34. Reason: clarity
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Fly the damn aircraft...
Over the years and through several different organizations, I have seen different variations and phraseology of these basic principles, but every single one of them started with the same first step - FLY THE AIRCRAFT. This is so fundamental and so important that at one previous employer we used to say that the first three steps of any emergency was 1) Fly the aircraft, 2) Fly the aircraft, and 3) Fly the aircraft.
Sadly, this concept has to be repeated frequently because, for various reasons, pilots keep forgetting this touchstone principle. FLY THE AIRCRAFT. First, last, and always.