{"id":74438,"date":"2019-11-03T20:39:48","date_gmt":"2019-11-04T01:39:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/?p=74438"},"modified":"2019-11-03T20:39:58","modified_gmt":"2019-11-04T01:39:58","slug":"the-daily-gouge-archive-friday-november-1st-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/?p=74438","title":{"rendered":"The Daily Gouge Archive, Friday, November 1st, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s Friday, November 1st, 2019…but before we begin, we’ve got<\/em><\/span> to throw the bullsh*t flag on this<\/em><\/span> play:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Families confront Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg on Capitol Hill with photos of 737 MAX crash victims<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/h1>\n

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“…\u201cBoth of these accidents were entirely preventable<\/em><\/span>,\u201d thundered Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the Commerce Committee\u2019s chair, during an exchange with Muilenburg.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>It was Wicker who invited the contingent of victims\u2019 relatives to rise with the photos of the departed, as Muilenburg turned in his chair to look at them.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I watched those loved ones stand…my anger has only grown,\u201d said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). \u201cThose pilots never had a chance<\/em><\/span>.<\/span> These loved ones never had a chance<\/em><\/span>. They were in flying coffins<\/em><\/span> as a result of Boeing deciding that it was going to conceal<\/em><\/span> MCAS from the pilots.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) agreed, telling the CEO of the Chicago-based Boeing, \u201cYou<\/em><\/span> set those pilots up for failure<\/span><\/em>.\u201d<\/strong><\/span>…”<\/p>\n

This is political theater AT ITS WORST<\/em><\/span>!\u00a0 TLJ flew to Pensacola Wednesday on Southwest<\/em>, and we’d have had NO PROBLEM WHATSOEVER<\/em><\/span>\u00a0with her traveling on a 737 MAX, and<\/em><\/span> no concern joining her<\/em><\/span>…provided we had a well-experienced pair of pilots at the controls.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unfortunately<\/em><\/span>, as Shakespeare so eloquently noted in Hamlet<\/em>, therein lies the rub<\/em><\/span>, as the Ethiopian Airlines<\/em> first officer in the accident had under 300<\/em><\/span> flight hours…IN TOTAL<\/em><\/span>; less than we<\/em><\/span> had upon completing initial Navy flight training.\u00a0 And we’d be willing to bet our entire net worth, unlike us<\/span><\/em>, he’d have been as useless as a…<\/strong><\/p>\n

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While Boeing doesn’t have completely clean hands in this, as\u00a0<\/strong>we detailed back in March (twice<\/em><\/span><\/a>), we’ve got two good Naval Academy buddies, both former F-14 drivers…both retired, highly experienced 737 pilots…both of who spent their last two years flying the 737 MAX.\u00a0 One actually flew<\/span><\/em> the crash scenario in a simulator and said he had no problem dealing with the problem.\u00a0 The other commented, “At [U.S. carrier], we all adhered to one \u201cmotto\u201d,\u00a0if it\u00a0isn\u2019t doing\u00a0what\u00a0you commanded it to do,\u00a0turn it off and FLY the jet!<\/span><\/em><\/a>“, which includes the MCAS system.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here’s the juice: too many pilots<\/em><\/span> today have too few flight hours<\/em><\/span>, many of who only know how to interface with a flight computer<\/em><\/span> and DON’T know how to FLY AN AIRPLANE<\/em><\/span>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the risk of oversimplifying the situation, here are three more examples of when a cockpit crew’s over-reliance upon automation, lack of understanding of aircraft systems and\/or lack of basic stick-and-rudder skills ended in disaster:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Asiana Airlines Flight 214<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/a>: It was the pilot-in-command’s first hands-on visual approach<\/em><\/span>…into SFO…on a clear and sunny day…in a 777!\u00a0 Whooda thunk he’d suck the power back, then forget to bring it back up as the aircraft slowed?!?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Air France Flight 447<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/a>: The first officer on an A330 bound from Brazil to Paris grossly overreacted to a minor instrument icing problem, stalled the aircraft at altitude, then rode it all the way into the Atlantic with the joystick full aft, never once dropping the nose to escape the stall.<\/strong><\/p>\n

New Zealand Air Flight 888<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/a>: During a stall test as part of an acceptance check flight of an A320, an experienced cockpit crew never noticed a warning telling them to manually trim the aircraft as the flight computer was no longer functional, instead over-relying on the aircraft’s safety systems to address the problem.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And there are many more.\u00a0 Our point is this: while automation is great (the Miracle on the Hudson was due, in no small part, to the A320’s flight computer keeping the aircraft at the optimal angle-of-attack), when push comes to shove, a pilot of Sully Sullenberger’s experience at hands-on flying is who we would want at the controls…other than, of course, ourselves. \ud83d\ude09<\/strong><\/p>\n

For more on the subject, we recommend this article<\/em><\/span><\/a> (gasp<\/em><\/span>!) from the New York Times<\/em>, which, while more than a little heavy on the Boeing-is-guilty-by-virtue-of-being-a-corporation blame, still stresses the inadequacies of Third World aviation training.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, here’s The Gouge<\/em>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since we’ve already thrown the bullsh*t flag once, we’ll toss it again, as…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Katie Hill blames her resignation on ‘double standard<\/span><\/span><\/a>‘<\/span><\/h1>\n

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“Rep. Katie Hill, D-Calif.,\u00a0ripped into her political opponents on Thursday, denouncing what she called a “double standard” in politics that allegedly punished her while letting\u00a0President Trump\u00a0and others off the hook<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n