re: 737max crashes in Ethiopia. Killing 157

WSJ - Inside U.S. Airlines’ Decisions to Keep Flying the 737 MAX

quote:

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And even if problems were to occur, Southwest pilots have been briefed on the system that was suspected of malfunctioning in both crashes and have routinely trained on steps to recover should the MAX’s computer mistakenly force the nose down. “These safety-management systems don’t speculate,” Mr. Kelly says.

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quote:

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Southwest, which has the largest U.S. fleet of MAX jets, also completed installation earlier this year of warning lights in its MAX cockpits that alert pilots if the two angle-of-attack sensors disagree, a sign one is failing. A faulty angle-of-attack indicator is suspected of playing a role in the Lion Air crash.

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This is interesting. I think it'll be fascinating to see what industry changes, if any, happen as a result of this situation. There seems to be a responsibility struggle playing out between aircraft and system design (Boeing) and airline quality/pilot training (U.S. airlines vs. airlines of other parts of the world). I think the airlines and the manufacturer share the responsibility, but there seems to be a fine line that divides the ratio of responsibility between the two in this case. In the example above, Southwest claims that they have routinely trained its pilots to recover if the MAX's computer mistakenly forces the nose down. That seems reasonable, and something the foreign airlines should aspire to do better (from what I've read). But they also installed extra features to make identifying the problem easier. Is it right that they, or any airline, should have to make modifications to their aircraft to support the flawed MCAS system? Shouldn't that be Boeing's responsibility? It seems like the airlines could have done more in other parts of the world to train their pilots to handle this system, but Boeing could have also made the problem easier to identify, or they could have designed something that didn't have a flaw in the first place (obviously).