conehead

"We value our partnership with Boeing, but were unaware of some of the functionality of the Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) installed on the Max 8," American tells FlightGlobal. "The work with the FAA and Boeing is ongoing, and we will continue to keep pilots informed of any updates." Wow! And here I thought it was just me that was unaware. When I first learned of this incident, and read about MCAS, I thought to myself “Self, I didn’t know that Boeing incorporates a Stall Protection System in this machine. Huh!”. I’ve never worked on any version of the 737, but I do know about Stall Protection Systems on various other types. Was it just “some of the functionality” they neglected to pass along to their customers?

Well, we should find out in a few years when the report comes out.

Hmmm... I would think that the ECAM indicates actual control surface deflection, as detected by a position transducer at the aileron, not the LVDT fed from the sidestick controller. But I could be wrong... it’s been a while since I worked on a ‘bus.

Thanks Malcolm, but that thread doesn’t refer to the case I was thinking of. There was no failure of the ELAC, they just wired it so that left and right stick inputs were crossed. Imagine the pilots surprise!

Control check? Apparently not. And it’s not the first time. I recall an incident a few years back, I believe it may have been at United, Maintenance had rewired the rack in which the ELAC computer lives in a A320. Captain’s aileron control was reversed, it wasn’t noticed until after takeoff at which time the FO was able to take control. Of course, Maintenance should have picked this up during a functional check of their work, same in this present case. Complacency kills.

Lifted this from Pprune: "It Was going back home after a C-check in Alverca.Swapped aileron controls (so when a right input, the a/c would turn left and vice-versa). Only elevators, rudder and thrust available to control the aircraft. As far as I've heard from someone who talked to the crew when things were settled down on ground, no issues when the autopilot was connected, but as soon as they would disconnect it, the controls were lost everytime. One of the four tonneaux ended at around 4000ft on a 90º nose down attitude. Adding to these awkward conditions, the wheather here in Lisbon area have been awfull the whole day with pouring rain, heavy clouds and low ceiling, so they had no visual geographic references, plus they were unfamiliar with the terrain and there's where the F-16s came in, to guide the E190 to a safer place. After "learning" to control the plane, all calmed down a little bit, but they needed an airport with better weather/visual conditions and Beja was the best(first option was sunny Algarve's Faro), which is also in a sparsely populated (thus the lowest FR24 coverage, adding to the fact that the a/c doesn't have ADS-B and only shows up in MLAT) area so in case of a crash, the possibility of having victims on the ground was much lower.On the first landing attempt, the aircraft wasn't well aligned to the runway so a go around was performed. On the second attempt they were a bit too high and went around again, before finally successfully landing on the third attempt. Of the 6 pob, two were taken to a local hospital with minor injuries and a third person, someone from the administration of Air Astana was reporting some heart issued ans was also taken to the hospital, which all three left by the beginning of the evening." Ailerons on the Embraer 190 are not fly-by-wire, but rather cable controlled.

So.... he’s never seen the airplane flown manually.... I’m getting scared to fly.

That’s why we have “test flights”.

Subject aircraft had spent the previous 6 weeks undergoing maintenance, this was a test flight.

Didn’t sound very safe to me... Hope she’s alright.

Sounded like she was alone up there, until one of the flight crew alerted someone that there was something wrong...

This is the beauty of INS... completely autonomous. https://www.businessinsider.com.au/finland-norway-tell-pilots-to-fly-without-gps-and-some-blame-russia-2018-11

Well, at least some of the slides worked...

Eastern called their 727’s “Whisperjets”??? Ha!

I saw the same black holes. Thought it was me.