Several years ago I wrote a post entitled “Is Airline Flying Safe?”.  My conclusion at that time was, generally yes.  However, there was a trend, particularly related to Airbus Industries airliners, of improper use of the auto-flight systems, which led to fatal crashes.

A new look at the question brings reason to doubt that these issues have been sufficiently addressed, either by the airlines or the aircraft manufacturer.  Now, the recent fatal crash of a Lion Air Boeing 737-Max, which killed all 189 people onboard, begs the question of whether the witches brew of automatic systems designed to “pilot proof” modern airliners is actually fatally flawed.

Both the crash of Air France 447 in 2009 and Air Asia 8501 in 2014 were caused by pilot inputs which induced a “deep stall” condition which was virtually impossible to recover from.  Both aircraft were completely airworthy, and could have been saved if the pilots had sufficient skills to fly them in a manual mode.

Instead of working together to solve this extremely dangerous situation, the airlines involved and the aircraft manufacturer instead chose to engage in finger pointing, trying to absolve themselves of liability for the deaths of crew and passengers.

The Boeing 737-Max involved in the Lion Air crash is not a “fly by wire” aircraft, which use a joystick instead of a control yoke for pilot inputs.  In addition, the throttles on the 737 move when power is applied, either by the pilot or auto-throttle system.  These are extremely important features, since the non-flying pilot can readily see what control inputs are being used by the pilot manipulating the controls.  Not so on the Airbus “pilot proofed” fleet.

Hopefully, the all important voice recorder will be found and transcribed to determine the comments and interaction of the Lion Air crew.  If proper inputs were applied, the 737-Max should have been able to successfully return and land at the departure airfield.  Instead it too became involved in a “deep stall” condition which caused the crash.

If airline flying is to remain the safest method of long distance travel, both the airlines and the aircraft manufacturers are going to have to come together and improve the manual hand flying and emergency decision making skills of the pilots.  That might result in a slight loss of flight efficiency, and so affect the bottom line financially, but how much are the human lives involved worth?

Money should never be the controlling factor where the safety of the flight is concerned.