...claims man who doesn’t hold a pilot’s licence.
Sorry, but in many areas the technology (even if difficult for a layman to really understand it) has improved things beyond all recognition.
My first car was a 1961 Hillman Minx. Mechanically simple, easy to get your head round, but I needed to be under the bonnet most weekends. I currently own a Honda Civic - loads of technology which has been totally and utterly reliable. Far more complexity than any of my first few cars and far more dependable.
Back to aircraft then...
Back in 1960 the fatal accident rate was about 11 per million flights. This has been steadily dropping and in 2017 (the last year I could quickly find figures for) was approximately 0.1 per million flights. During that time aircraft have become hugely more complex and measurably safer.
The technology may well be complex, but as long as it’s making things safer and more reliable then I’m all for it.
I play guitar because I enjoy it rather than because I’m any good at it
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Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
Im sure I read that this isn’t the first max 8 crash that the anti stall system has been suggested as the culprit. Obviously it’s to early to tell with the recent crash yet.
The first Max8 crash looks like its down to automation in the airplane fighting pilot actions. The plane used all the data it had, decided it was stalling, pointed the nose down to protect the airplane. Pilots had more data (visual) and knew this was wrong. They tried to takeover by manual pull back, which was always the way in the old 737s. Trouble is Boeing changed this on the Max8, pull back does not override, you need to click some buttons (or something similar). Turns out almost every pilot flying the new Max8 was unaware of this feature change. Learned behaviours, poor communications, massive consequences.
Another similar crash, same plane, within weeks. I will actively avoiding this airplane type until airworthiness changes are incorporated.
The problem with the nose down on the Max series is well know by pilots and can be cured by disabling the autopilot system they say, but Boeing have been extremely lax in providing training and documentation on this new series of the 737.
*If* the witnesses are correct, to me it sounds like it could have been a fire in the rear cargo hold which damaged the flight control systems. That could explain both a trail of smoke and debris falling from the plane, as well as loss of control.
The aircraft did not stall - it hit the ground in a full nose-down dive under power - you don't need witnesses for that, the size of the hole in the ground and the size of the pieces of what's left of the plane prove that. The Lion Air crash which is suspected to have been due to the MCAS anti-stall system was a nose-down high-speed impact as well.
At this point I don't think the grounding is an over-reaction. The cause of the second crash is unknown at this point but there are enough similarities that a generic fault can't be ruled out.
But aircraft are not becoming too complex to fly - pilots are possibly not being trained adequately to fly them, which is a completely different issue. As already said, aviation safety has improved consistently the more automation there has been. The problem now is that pilots sometimes seem to be unfamiliar with how to cope in the extremely rare cases where something goes seriously wrong and the automation has unintended results - which is a worrying problem, since that's really the whole point in having pilots.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
If the auto-pilot cannot be automatically overridden by manual control, then to me this is a case of extremely poor design.
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
Didn't this come from His Donaldness wanting to remove obstacles and trying to make US aircraft more competitive in the international market?
Perhaps the 737 Max8 could replace the current Airforce One...
Take the (original) iPhone for example. It was the most complex mobile phone ever released, yet it was one of the simplest to use.
Deaths per billion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation_safety
Personally, I wouldn't get on a 737Max right now if I had the choice. Yes, aircraft are still very safe, but this particular type has an apparently high accident rate that hasn't been properly accounted for yet. The two crashes may be completely unrelated and just a statistical anomaly... but they may not be.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein