I think that his videos are really good and he makes a valid point as does the article that all the electronic warnings distracted the pilots. He still agrees with Mr. Langewiesche however, who is distinguished aviator whose dad wrote the best book ever on the art of flying... that disaster could have been averted if the pilots had just turned off the electrical assist and trimmed vertical stabilizer themselves. But he said in his latest 737 MAX update video that Langewiesche didn’t understand the mentality of current military and airline pilots and concluded that this somehow excused them from crashing these planes. I disagree with this.
Our neighbors two doors down on the airport are a family of airline pilots. The two parents have now retired but they still own a Cessna 182. Both their son and daughter now fly for United. The daughter bought a 1951 T6 Harvard trainer. T6 trainers with that big old heavy radial up front can be a handful. If the automatic trim malfunctioned on any plane she was flying I have no doubt that she could handle the situation.
There are some other details about changes made to the vertical trim system in the MAX, but nothing changes the fact that this was a runaway trim situation, something that pilots have been trained to recognize and correct for over five decades. I do not believe that Boeing is to blame for this fiasco.
Excellent summary however
there is plenty of blame to go around
there were many contributing factors some
of which may never be fully known for certain.
I’ve developed software for over 30 years and
automation has it’s own set of challenges but
I completely agree that there is no substitute
for highly skilled / trained pilots at the helm
of any large airliner.
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