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Comment by bgorman | Hacker News Reader

If Boeing is issuing software updates that disable manual override without telling pilots, Boeing is completely at fault here, and some of the engineers/executives should face criminal charges.

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I am confused. When I read the article about the Lion Air crash, I thought one cause of the crash was that the pilots hadn't been properly trained in the manual override procedure that can deal with the problem with malfunctioning sensors.

I don't understand how a software update can override a completely manual override.

The procedure that pilots are taught to override auto trim was unchanged, but I think that previous auto trim systems could also be "out muscled" just by pulling back on the yoke without actually switching on the manual override. It's that second part that people are pointing out (though I will in turn point out that the pilots on the flight prior to 610 faced similar issued and used the manual override to respond to them).

> criminal charges

Boeing informed the FAA of the changes, and the FAA decided that the pilots and airlines did not need to be informed. Criminal charges for Boeing would be extremely surprising.

Would the FAA decision have any bearing on what happens in Ethiopian airspace?

Taking your question at face-value: FAA guidelines apply to all airlines that fly into the US - Ethiopian does.

Good point. Boeing should be have told every customer that bought a plane.

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