Quote:
Originally Posted by ORDinary
MCAS only works when hand flying, and the 737 has those big loud trim wheels. So if MCAS is working, the trim wheels are spinning loudly nose down, while the yoke is being pulled from your hands. It would be hard not to notice.
Admittedly your first reaction would be to pull back, which is what MCAS is trimming to prevent (because the plane thinks you are stalling). But if the trim wheels are spinning and you aren't trimming, then it seems like stopping them would be pretty desirable in the moment. Electric trim will supposedly override the MCAS, as will the trim cutout switches on the pedestal.
It all sounds simple on paper. For better or worse I’ve got probably 8,000 hours in the Guppy (with the associated hearing loss), and I can thoroughly symphatize with these crews. IF the sole event was MCAS trimming forward and the yolk getting pulled from your hand, then it would be easy enough to diagnose as a STAB TRIM runaway and quickly reach for the cutout switches.
Unfortunately, at least in the case of the Lion Air accident, those poor bastards were dealing with sensory overload and I can easily see how they would have missed the airplane trimming forward.
Anymore, those of us that fly the MAX will be hair-triggered to reach for the cutout switches the moment the chit hits the fan.
At least from the -800 on down the B737 is a cream puff and if you’ve taken the time and made the effort to hand fly her enough she should be controlable in pitch, power and manual trim to the point of getting her on the ground safely.
I hand fly a lot and feel really comfortable with seat of the pants in that particular airplane but am making a renewed vow to make mental snapshots of pitch angles and power settings at commonly used configurations during flight in the hopes that if this ever happened to me (us), we’d have a fighting chance.
Those poor people in the cockpit and especially in the back. My heart is broken for them and the sheer terror that a human has to deal with in those final moments when they know they’re going to die. Just awful....