I’m just a professional pilot and no more. Better than some and worse than others, but I do try to be good at what I do.
The longstanding joke with the Airbus is that it was built with inexperienced pilots from developing countries in mind. In many ways it’s flying for dummies. In other ways it’s so dummed down that it takes away airmanship if you let it. With regard to that I find the 737 is the superior plane.
I was a checkairman as my last stop and was particularly unforgiving of people who didn’t know where to stick the nose and put the power to get the desired result. Airmanship. We had a process for interacring with the automation called CAMI. First we would Confirm an input with the other pilot, and once that was done we’d Activate the change. Then we would Monitor to make sure the plane was doing what we wanted and Intervene if it wasn’t. That last part is what I harped on because I would watch guys stop flying the plane or worse just throw the autopilot on without methodically building up the lateral, vertical and speed parameters. They would abdicate their role as pilot first, and then get their asses in a sling when the autopilot went on a walk about while they were digging in a QRH or briefing an approach or whatnot. There is no excuse for a pilot experienced in an aircraft type to not know pitch and power for pretty much all phases of flight.
The other thing I was unforgiving of was not knowing memory items and limitations cold. These aren’t hard. They’re there to keep you safe, and to keep the plane flying so that you can work the problem once you’ve got things stabilized to a degree. And not a few are written in blood. I review them before every trip. It only takes about 10 minutes so it’s not like it’s some big effort.
None of the current narrowbody designs in use today are younger than 40 years old save the C series/A220. They are all fairly modified to keep current with the times and their expanding roles. The 737 added a tail bumper as it was lengthened for tail strikes. The Max has extended main gear and repositioned motors to accommodate bigger fans. The A321 doesn’t have enough wing and doesn’t land with full flaps (25 degrees compared to 40) like the 320-319. The NEO only has 18 inches of clearance between the nacelle and the ground. Pilots have had to learn and modify their behaviors to a degree as each airframe is developed. The Max is no different, and I’ve not heard a single complaint from friends who’ve flown it with regard to its handling. In other words, it’s a good flying plane like most Boeings. A very similar system to the MCAS is installed on Airbuses and no one is losing their minds over it, largely because the public doesn’t know about it. Both systems have procedures for dealing with their failures that prevent what happened in Africa and the Far East from leading to crashes.
You’re ultimately going to get your wish with this, but it shouldn’t have happened in the first place. It’s easy to Monday morning QB this stuff and say what you would and wouldn’t have done differently, but there were plenty of warning signs available to both crews to cue them into the fact that pitch issues might arise, and that they may have to use that memory item every Boeing pilot has known by heart for 50+ years. Particularly the second crew who should have really had it foremost in their minds.