Originally Posted by
RatherBeInYOW
The ET302 crew retracted the flaps and engaged the autopilot. Either they were completely disregarding the QRH or they understood at some level that the left stick shaker was not an issue. Very challenging to say that they were following anti-stall reccommendations with the throttles when they ignored them with virtually everything else besides trim. No way to know if other pilots would have done differently, and again I think the nationality of the pilots or airline is not really relevant. An Air Canada crew could have done the exact same thing.
And, again, I am not claiming "pilot error" was the cause of ET302. The loss of the AoA sensor (why?), MCAS, probably other systems or hardware issues with the 737 MAX that we don't even know about yet, and the actions of the pilots all contributed in different ways to the crash occurring. In exactly what ways we don't know, the preliminary report tells us a bit but really just raises more questions, and everything else is pure speculation ... especially coming from amateurs like us. We probably won't know more until the final report and/or until the 737 MAX gets recertified and more details come out.
I agree with what you said. I have yet to hear anyone claiming MCAS is not the primary factor in either of the crashes, but that is not to say that maintenance and/or pilot actions are not also contributing factors. I get the impression that some people here hate Boeing so much that they can't bring themselves to recognize that other factors may have contributed. In the case of ET302, based on Juan Brown's comments on the preliminary report, it appears that the pilots made some mistakes that might have prevented them from saving the aircraft. They did not control the speed of the aircraft and they did not follow the instructions in the AD. It appears that they turned MCAS back on. If that's the case, that action, combined with the over speed, sealed their fate. The difference between an average pilot and an exceptional pilot may not matter during a routine flight, but can make a difference in a situation such as this where there a mechanical problem, a bird strike, a fire, or something else.