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the 737 max is so cool man. the software workaround to end all software workarounds. the plane that decides it wants to nosedive and won't let the pilot stop it :)
there's this perverse beauty in just how many bad decisions led to that mess. they could've had redundant sensors, they could've made it possible to override it, they could've told pilots it existed, they could've not tried to use software to fix the “feel” of hardware. but no :)
@hikari But any of those options would cost money!
@hikari oh no, the pilots could have definitely overriden it — the Code 7700 accident case study is a balanced (imo) writeup that goes into this
@eta as i understand it, while it was technically possible to do so, it would require knowing the system existed and doing so also got rid of power assistance on some aspect of the controls, so controlling the plane becomes much more difficult
@eta the big problem is that, the way it was originally designed, if you didn't know what was going on, you would struggle to work against it
@hikari I agree the pilots were set up to fail by the automation, but I still think this is within the scope of things they should've been able to handle — that said, as the analysis notes, they weren't trained very well at all, and the system was quite surprising in what it did
@hikari AIUI most of those would have pushed it out of the “basically the same plane as before, honest” category meaning it would have needed approval as a new type of plane, which takes longer and costs more
And of course now Boeing have learned their lesson so… are lobbying regulators to let their new improved (but totally still the same, honest) MAX 7 to fly without additional approvals