Boing boing boing into the ground.

[rbowman]

I had the impression there were other failures but for competent pilots it was just another day on the job.

[Clare Snyder]

Safe to say "the first reported" failures. I believe a few more crawled out of the woodwork after the fact.

[Clare Snyder]

I'll bet it scared the heck out of even the "competent" ones when it first happened - - -

[rbowman]

There's that old saw something about hours of boredom with the odd seconds of terror. I used to fly in the '80s but the boredom got to me and in my heart of hearts I didn't think i was capable of doing the right thing in the seconds of terror.

[gfretwell]

The story I heard on Avweb was the guy had actually read up on MCAS and he just added some flap and landed normally.

[A noiseless patient Spider]

Flying is easy until shit starts breaking.

[trader_4]

I've seen a list of incidents US pilots reported on Maxs, nothing there about any AOA sensor failures. Since it produces at minimum a very bizarre and scary ride for the passengers, one would think it would likely be on the news soon as it happened. But then you're the one alleging it was due to foreign pilots, so you show us where it's happened with US or similar airlines and that they managed to figure it out.

Also, we've heard nothing about the root cause of why these new sensors failed, which is odd. I assume they are not used in other planes? If they are, that's shocking, because you'd think they would have figured out what was wrong, what needs to be immediately checked or replaced on any other planes that use them.

[trader_4]

It didn't happen on any other flights, there were just three flights. How many AOA sensors would fail in a few hundred planes that are just a year old?

[Scott Lurndal]

Albeit four years late.

[gfretwell]

I would expect it would show up with the airline that has the most maxes and flies the most miles in them, not two in some obscure airline in the 3d world with very little flight experience in them. ... unless this is some kind of maintenance issue that they have been slow to point out.

It is also possible that a good pilot would have caught the failure early, mitigated the problem and continued on his way without scaring the hell out of the passengers. Maybe they just spent the extra few bucks and bought the light that indicated the AOA failure.

[Clare Snyder]

Like the old saying - the prop is just a fan to keep the pilot cool. Just watch him start to sweat when the prop stops - - - -

[Clare Snyder]

Apparently one of the subject planes had been washed - and at high altitudes the AOA froze

[trader_4]

Trumpesque style America first and only America, screw everyone else. All airlines didn't have a lot of experience with the Max, it had only gone into production about a year before the crash and only a few hundred had been delivered. Apparently Lion Air is not obscure to Boeing:

Lion's Share: Lion Air Orders 201 737 MAXs and 29 Next-Generation 737-900s

With leonine boldness, Lion Air has pounced on the opportunity to extend its 737 dominance far into the future. The world’s largest 737-900ER operator recently finalized a record-breaking order for the 737 MAX. Lion Air is also now the global launch customer for the 737 MAX 9.

The firm order includes 201 737 MAXs and 29 Next-Generation 737-900s, the largest ever commercial airplane order for Boeing. Lion Air was the first airline in Asia to commit to the 737 MAX. With the finalized MAX order, MAX success is sure to follow. Hakuna matata!

Hard to imagine it's a maintenance issue on a plane that's only a couple months old and the issue is a simple vane sensor.

Again, any such incidents are not just ignored and not documented. They would have been logged and reported. Even if a plane had the AOA disagree light, there is no indication it would have made a difference. Again, there was no explanation of MCAS in the Max manuals, no pilots were aware of it or trained on it. They didn't know an AOA sensor could shove the nose down, no way of knowing how an AOA light would have factored in to what they might or might not do. And again, the Ethiopian crew followed the exact procedure that Boeing put out AFTER the first crash. It didn't work, the co-pilot was unable to move the trim wheel. Are pilots flying for American carriers stronger?