The sensor was wrongly telling the MAX 8’s flight computers that the aircraft was climbing much more sharply than it was. As a result, pilots were left wrestling with an aircraft that was repeatedly plunging itself towards the ground for no reason. A pilot can counteract the dive by pulling up on the control column, but MCAS will kick in again after only 10 seconds and once again tilt the plane downwards.
“If this is left unchecked (it) can lead to a potential nose heavy situation where it becomes almost impossible to manually raise the nose,” reads a November assessment of the Lion Air crash by Akan Bassey, a commercial pilot and blogger.
Indeed, the final minutes of Lion Air Flight 610 show the plane veering crazily up and down 26 times as the pilot fought with MCAS for control of the aircraft.
No comments:
Post a Comment