[noxryan]

I agree that we frequently see this on HN in regards to aviation. However, I don;t think it applies to Greenspun. He's a knowledgeable and active pilot himself.

[bilbo0s]

Lots of people are, that doesn't mean they aren't armchair quarterbacking. I know how to fly airplanes and helicopters, does that make me an expert on the flight dynamics of 737 MAX?

[starpilot]

According to Wikipedia he flew for Delta Airlines/Comair https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Greenspun.

That still doesn't mean he knows anything about writing code for flight control systems in commercial environments. Maybe he's written some toy code in MATLAB demonstrating some things, that's never undergone testing on a real airframe.

[tzs]

Are there any airliners for which a sustained 60-70 degree angle of attack over a span of several minutes is not overwhelmingly likely due to sensor failure?

[VBprogrammer]

I think it's fair to say that his knowledge of aircraft plus his knowledge of software and electrical engineering qualify him to speculate.

Its quite likely he has greater knowledge of both subjects than the person who physically implemented MCAS.

Sadly, no speculation is necessary. Had that change been included in MCAS the Ethiopian crash wouldn't have happened.

[joezydeco]

However, any programmer that's been around the block a few times knows when they see a phrase like

"all of the problems on the Ethiopian flight could potentially have been avoided by changing....about 10 characters of code"

It's a sign that things are never as simple as they seem on the surface.