Nicely outlined. But LOL: Really driving home my prior point that autopilot (and manual flight, by consequence) are terms which have no bearing when referencing modern commercial aircraft.
The decision to not include AOA Disagree (an option) on the subject aircraft will also prove to be an expensive mistake. But I’m not sure how much of a difference it would have made under the circumstances.
At a minimum, had the pilots of the (saved) Lion Air flight reported their malfunction, that plane might have been routed for maintenance rather than scheduled the next day for its fatal flight...
Agree. Autopilot and manual flight do not adequately describe what the pilots are actually doing. In almost all cases, manual flight means the pilots are providing inputs to the primary flight controls through the yoke & column. Auto-throttles take care of airspeed and the Speed Trim System takes care of pitch trim.
The decision to not include AOA Disagree (an option) on the subject aircraft will also prove to be an expensive mistake.
This decision has me stumped. I believe it is related to keeping "differences training" as CBT vs Level D simulator sortie. I would really like to get a copy of the differences training CBT and see if AOA disagree being removed is even covered.
But I’m not sure how much of a difference it would have made under the circumstances.
I believe both crashes would have been avoided and here's why:
This goes to training. If AOA disagree and AOA gages are displayed on the PFD, then Boeing would have to provide a checklist procedure to follow when the AOA disagree message is displayed. Training would be required in a Level D simulator, and the pilots would have known what to do.
At a minimum, had the pilots of the (saved) Lion Air flight reported their malfunction, that plane might have been routed for maintenance rather than scheduled the next day for its fatal flight...
Here's the info regarding the Lion Air prior flight (bolding is mine, my comments in red):
"On 28 October 2018, a Boeing 737-8 (MAX) aircraft registered PK-LQP was being operated by PT. Lion Mentari Airlines (Lion Air) as a scheduled passenger flight from I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport (WADD), Denpasar to Jakarta as LNI043. During pre-flight check, the PIC discussed with the engineer of the maintenance actions that had been performed including replacement of the AoA sensor and had been tested accordingly.
The aircraft departed at 1420 UTC (2220 LT) at night time, the DFDR showed the stick shaker activated during the rotation and remained active throughout the flight. About 400 feet, the PIC noticed on the PFD the IAS DISAGREE warning appeared. The PIC handed over control to the SIC and cross checked the PFDs with the standby instrument and determined that the left PFD had the problem. The PIC noticed the aircraft was automatically trimming AND. The PIC moved the STAB TRIM switches to CUT OUT and the SIC continued the flight with manual trim without auto-pilot until the end of the flight. AND trimming indicates AOA malfunction. PIC quickly recognized the problem and moved the STAB TRIM switches to CUT OUT. SIC continued flight with manual trim. PIC did not relate the AND trimming to AOA malfunction and did not inform engineer. If 'AOA disagree' were installed, then the PIC would have informed the engineer and maintenance would have been performed on the AOA sensors.
The PIC declared “PAN PAN” to the Denpasar Approach controller due to instrument failure and requested to maintain runway heading. The PIC performed three Non-Normal Checklists and none contained the instruction “Plan to land at the nearest suitable airport”.
The remainder of the flight was uneventful and the aircraft landed Jakarta about 1556 UTC. After parking, the PIC informed the engineer about the aircraft problem and entered IAS and ALT Disagree and FEEL DIFF PRESS problem on the AFML. Unfortunately, the engineer was unaware of the AOA malfunction.
The engineer performed flushing the left Pitot Air Data Module (ADM) and static ADM to rectify the IAS and ALT disagree followed by operation test on ground and found satisfied. The Feel Differential Pressure was rectified by performed cleaned electrical connector plug of elevator feel computer. The test on ground found the problem had been solved."
This post is long enough...All in all, a sad sequence of events.