Ethiopia crash captain did not train on airline's MAX simulator: source

[turbinetree]

Source: Reuters

Maggie Fick, Jason Neely

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The captain of a doomed Ethiopian Airlines flight did not get a chance to practice on his airline’s new simulator for the Boeing 737 MAX 8 before he died in a crash with 157 others, a pilot colleague said.

Captain Yared Getachew, 29, was due for refresher training at the end of March, his colleague told Reuters, two months after Ethiopian Airlines had received one of the first such simulators being distributed.

The March 10 disaster, following another MAX 8 crash in Indonesia in October, has set off one of the biggest inquiries in aviation history, focused on the safety of a new automated system and whether crews understood it properly.

In both cases, the pilots lost control soon after take-off and fought a losing battle to stop their jets plunging down.



Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ethiopia-airplane-simulator-exclusive/ethiopia-crash-captain-did-not-train-on-airlines-max-simulator-source-idUSKCN1R20WD

[robbob]

2. I could be wrong, it may have been another type of aircraft

...but hasn’t this been going on for months? I’m surprised I haven’t seen it mentioned, but I could swear there were a couple incidents last fall involving a planes autonomous systems causing it to dive towards the ground. So, my question is, how fucking hard would it be to circulate a memo to ALL pilots letting them know about the issue and how they can resolve it by disengaging the auto pilot? It’s criminal.

[lagomorph777]

3. "The March 10 disaster, following another MAX 8 crash in Indonesia in October"

Yes, it has been going on for months. Hence the scandal.

[getagrip_already]

4. there were 3 near crashes as well....

One was on the plane that did crash in lion, the day before. There was an extra pilot deadheading in the cockpit and he was quick enough to disable the ap allowing the pilots to regain control. The plane was checked, software reloaded, and put back into service. It then crashed for real.

Two other incidents were in the US but also didn't result in crashes.

So the pilots went 3 for 5 before anything substantive was done.

I'd have to agree with you. There was ample warning that disabling the AP could allow a pilot to regain control. There should have been a flash alert on it.

[rickford66]

5. On all the sims I've worked on, an AOA sensor is assumed OK or failed.

That would be a no-brainer for any commercial pilot. The sensor data from the recovered boxes must show some real unusual activity and will have to be reproduced on the sims before any fixes are applied.