Originally Posted by
bimmerdriver
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.
I don't play the A vs B game; I'm fine with both although as a pax I prefer A for comfort. It's not - with the exception of the 7M8 - something I pay much attention to when booking.
That said, your argument is veering into strange territory where having an average pilot - as opposed to an exceptional one - will end up being classified as a "contributing factor".
I suppose the question then is, would these pilots have allowed the aircraft to overspeed in the absence of MCAS. IMHO probably not - they're trained to fly things. If that's the case, does that then make MCAS a contributory factor in overspeed? In which case, how do you balance it against pilot error and vice versa.
The overall problem seems to be that MCAS can overwhelm most (ie "average") pilots. What these pilots did is therefore irrelevant. Another set of pilots might have missed something else. In essence, their being merely qualified/competent would in itself become a contributory factor.
To what end? At some point, the responsibility belongs solely on the company that created a system that overwhelms most pilots. I wouldn't call that boeing hating.