Handling emergencies and unusual situations is a significant part of learning to fly and remaining current to fly any airplane. Flight training can’t possibly teach pilots how to handle every single event they could encounter, however. With that concept in mind, pilots are often taught to look for the similarities between one event and another to help them more quickly find a solution to the situation at hand. That kind of training demands making certain assumptions about the pilots who will occupy the flight deck.
NTSB Questions Both FAA and Boeing Assumptions on 737 Max
Key Takeaways:
- Boeing assumed 737 Max pilots would recognize an MCAS failure as a runaway trim situation, requiring no specific training or awareness of the system, based on its perceived rarity and ease of counteraction.
- The NTSB found this assumption flawed, as multiple simultaneous alerts and indications (triggered by erroneous angle-of-attack data) overwhelmed and distracted accident pilots, hindering their ability to identify and respond effectively to the MCAS malfunction.
- The NTSB recommends that the FAA revise system safety assessment processes to better account for the combined effect of all potential flight deck alerts on pilot recognition and response, and develop tools to help pilots prioritize failure indications.
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