When software works against the pilot's will

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rakhirhif8963
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Joined: Mon Dec 23, 2024 3:16 am

When software works against the pilot's will

Post by rakhirhif8963 »

If MCAS detects signs of a stall on the 737 Max or other flight parameters, it automatically moves the control stick to the correct position. Boeing chose MCAS for the 737 Max because of the design of the engines under the wings.

The preliminary investigation report into the Lion Air crash mentioned that the pilots encountered differences in airspeed readings from different sensors. This led to a situation where MCAS intervened in the plane's controls, trying to save it from losing speed and stalling. The system is only active when the autopilot is off and the flaps are retracted. In the event of an emergency, MCAS activates the horizontal stabilizer and slowly raises the nose of the plane to allow it to gain speed and altitude.

The pilot can return the stabilizer to its place, but after five seconds MCAS (after checking the sensor readings) takes control again. At the same time, the system “believes” in a stall, even if only one of the two italy whatsapp data indicates this – this is what happened on the Lion Air plane, where one sensor failed, while the other continued to work normally. After several minutes of fighting with the automation, the pilots were still unable to disable the software that controlled the stabilizer; the plane went into a dive and crashed into the sea at high speed. They simply did not know that the automation could be disabled by simply flicking a couple of switches on the right rear of the throttle console – according to preliminary data, Boeing did not consider it necessary to inform the pilots about this, “so as not to overload them with information”.

It is not yet known whether this situation was repeated in the case of the Ethiopian Airlines crash, because investigators have only just begun to study the flight data, but as the study of satellite data has shown, there are many similarities in the flight paths of the crashed Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines planes. It is also worth noting the large number of records in the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) database that indicate problems with MCAS in the 737 Max series of aircraft. These records are submitted anonymously by pilots, and the database is used to improve aviation safety.
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