Capt. “Sully” Sullenberger Slams Boeing for Inadequate Pilot Training
finance.yahoo.com
finance.yahoo.com
When you have a very complex system, which has been incrementally modified over a 50 year period, it is going to be really difficult to understand all the interactions. The NYT article describes a Jan 2016 parameter change on the MCAS to make it faster and more powerful.
I am convinced that the MCAS will be studied and understood, and pilots can be trained to respond appropriately. I'm not convinced that there is a process in place where the consequences of changes to the aircraft are known and tested in advance.
Ultimately, if the pilot is willing to fly, I'm willing to fly, but based on what I've seen, I don't think there was an adequate change control process in place, and as long as that is true issues will continue to be "discovered" in flight. Training is a solution to known problems, not unknown problems.
That's back then. The state of the art in CFD has only made the process easier. There is absolutely no room for them to have not known the physical ramifications of that change.
Where the story gets sketchy is where Boeing didn't update the FAA on the later change to the system, and every attempt being made to ensure that they didn't design anything such that the FAA would deem simulator training necessary as evidenced by whistleblower testimony (See the Australian 60 minutes expose[2]).
[1] The D. P. Davies Interview, Royal Aeronautics Society, https://www.aerosociety.com/news/audio-the-d-p-davies-interv...
https://www.aerosociety.com/news/audio-the-d-p-davies-interv...
This is the one quote attributed to Sullenberger. Is that enough to claim that he "slams" Boeing? Headline hyperbole is annoying.
The full remarks from which this quote is lifted are significantly critical of Boeing, during which he describes the "current system of aircraft certification and design" as having "failed us". I don't think this headline mistakes the the nature of his remarks at all.
On the other side, I would never click on a headline like this from another source, but it being here on HN provides some benefit of the doubt. Yahoo news reveals its consistent character, as usual, but at least this is balanced by the always insightful comments toward the material subject matter of the article (my own comment here notwithstanding).
Sully is not given to hyperbole. When he says "not even close" you can take it as given. He doesn't need to say, "shame on them!" But you know, and he knows you know.
We had one trip where the window seat was able to get out without the other two leaving the row, in economy! (There was a lot of rubbing, but it was possible)