Posted on 11/27/2018 9:25:37 PM PST by Freedom of Speech Wins
“Hope it never overrides you”
Good one! My mower doesn’t move at all unless you hold down the ‘go forward’ or ‘go backward’ pedal. The only danger I can see is that the blade doesn’t stop if I fall off the seat, so I’d have to fall off the tractor and put my foot under the blade. Even if the motor cut off, it’s a few seconds before the blades stop rotating.
Regarding the dash button that needed to be pressed to make it go backwards, that was very awkward. Leaning forward to hold the button and at the same time looking backward was not good for my neck.
I am an engineer and I agree with you that there is a special place for those who design such messes. This subject of safety devices and interlocks is debated, sometimes hotly, in design groups frequently. Safety usually wins but is it really safer? I have argued that systems that make the operator less aware of the conditions are not safer at all since he needs to be prepared to take over if the “smart” systems fail.
More complexity is certainly is not more reliable. Just about any increase in parts count will make a thing less reliable as will any increase in connections of any kind.
I have seen times when the engineers began with something useful and reliable but by the time the marketing and legal people got done it was just short of useless. To that number who contribute to making good designs bad are the users brought in for a day or two to contribute their ideas that are sometimes well intentioned but not very well thought through.
To expect a pilot to execute all but the very simplest of override systems in an emergency is unrealistic.
When you idiot-proof everything...
I agree with that, seems like that is where this is heading.
IMO there’s no excuse for lack of Pilot Training Especially by Boeing.
I should clarify that MOST of My Complaint List is mechanical items not electric (Ya can’t see them electron thingies).
Bolts that could be easily given way better access but have some Casting Ear or Tab left on from when robotics grab ahold of an item and be moved in the factory. Like an engine block. Or a Heat Shield in the way that protects absolutely nothing from Heat except air.
My favorite to bitch about is changing spark plugs on a V-12 Jaguar. The 2 front plugs CAN NOT be replaced unless the A/C Compressor is removed. You can break the top off the old ones and remove the base but the new ones will break every time. To remove the A/C Compressor the High and Low Side TUBES (not flexible hoses) must come OFF. That means Freon loss leading to putting in New O-Rings on the lines, a Nitrogen Sweep, Evacuation, Vaccum leak check and Freon Recharge. Several hours of extra work that could be solved with a couple of flexible lines or even raise the mounting point 1/2”. And the current cost of Freon is stupid absurd $20.00 a can or so. And if it’s an R-12 System then it must be converted to 134A. So what could and should be a 1 hour plug change for the price of plugs and 1 hour Labor is now: Plugs, Compressor O-Rings, Freon, maybe Oil, Nitrogen, Orifice Tube Screen and it’s O-Ring and 5 - 6 hours Labor.
Try to explain that to a Customer that is mechanically declined...
Because Boeing, in all it’s wisdom, didn’t tell anyone about it. It’s not in the flight manuals. American and SWA pilots were on a verge of a strike a few weeks ago because of this.
i don’t think they pushed out manuals. I think they sent a safety notice that told the pilots to read the existing manuals.
I think you are wrong, the safety feature was in the manuals, and in the training.
According to your last reference link, the one about the new “safety bulletin”:
“The Operations Manual Bulletin directs all airlines operating the Boeing 737 Max to follow “existing flight crew procedures to address circumstances where there is erroneous input from an AOA sensor.””
This suggests that there is “existing flight crew procedures”. And that Boeing had to tell people to FOLLOW those procedures. It doesn’t say that they had to GIVE them the procedures.
“Just wait until self-driving cars infest the roads. What fun that will be!”
my first thought as well ... if millions of man-hours of analysis and programming still results in the occasional super airliner falling out of the sky and killing large amounts of people, just think what kind of havoc is going to happen when tens of thousands of 1st gen “self-driving” cars are released onto the highways to intermix with hundreds of millions of innocent folks ...
quite frankly, what i think is going to happen is that these youngsters who don’t know shit from shinola who are pushing this self-driving nonsense have no idea that a pre-mature release of largely untested technology that quickly and randomly kills hundreds of innocent people will kill the whole concept of self-driving vehicles deader than a dodo bird ...
#50 GM wanting to save less then a dollar like the ignition lock with less metal that caused the car to stall resulting in crashes and deaths.
excerpt: left at least 124 people dead and 275 injured
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2017/10/20/gm-settles-deadly-ignition-switch-cases-120-million/777831001/
They would save money by outsourcing software programming to say India
Faulty AOA sensor/indicator (1 of 2 on the plane) caused auto-trim to malfunction (with “stick shaker” on the pilot’s side). The flight crew on the prior flight dealt with it professionally (auto-trim “Off” switch in center stack) and “squawked” it (wrote it up for maintenance) but fix never was never performed (plane should have been grounded).
Yep, all it takes is a space, digit or character done wrong.
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