Plane crash in Ethiopia: Boeing 737 MAX pilots only trained on tablets

Pilots must be trained to fly on specially equipped simulators that simulate the cockpit of a real aircraft of a particular model. Many pilots who had to manage Boeing 737 MAX, wrecked in Ethiopia, understood to control this model of aircraft through the iPad tablets, since there were no simulators. This is stated in the investigation of the publication. The New York Times.

Фото: Depositphotos

The crash of the Boeing 737 MAX in Ethiopia is similar to the crash of a similar liner from the Lion Air company in Indonesia, which took place on October 29. Many carriers are beginning to refuse to buy this liner from Boeing.

Official agencies and lawmakers are beginning to investigate the causes of the incident. One of the questions is this: were the pilots prepared enough to control the new liner? When the new aircraft appeared, then Boeing considered that the pilots who flew on the earlier model of such an aircraft did not need additional training on simulators, and regulators agreed with this.

Although the investigation is still ongoing, preliminary data indicate a potential similarity between the two accidents, and they question the new software, which pilots did not learn to use.

Usually, before starting to fly on new aircraft models, pilots train for hours on giant flight simulators — flight simulators designed for ground training, where flight simulations take place and new functions are learned. In the case of the Boeing 737 MAX, many pilots understood the control through the iPad tablets.

“We would like to have a simulator (from the very beginning). But it was not feasible because it was not built yet, ”says John Weeks, president of the association of pilots of Southwest Airlines.

Boeing tried to build and launch a plane faster, so flight simulators designed for the MAX model were not ready.

“The plane was being built, it was being refined in the process. Data for the creation of simulators were not available until the moment when he was ready to fly, ”said Greg Bowen, representative of the Association of Southwest pilots.

In 2017, a group of pilots from United Airlines, which were supposed to deliver new aircraft, flew to Seattle, where they completed a two-hour training course on the iPad. After that, the pilots, based on their experience, created an 13-page guide on the differences between the MAX model and its predecessor.

It referred to changes affecting the displays and engines, but they did not mention the new software, which later became key in investigating the circumstances of the crash of a Lion Air plane in Indonesia and Ethiopian Airlines.

“When you find that there are systems on an airplane that are very different from each other and affect the performance of the airplane, then having a simulator is part of the safety culture,” says American Airlines pilot union representative and Boeing 737 pilot Dennis Tajer.

Boeing said in a statement that "the 737 Max has been certified to meet FAA process and all aircraft derivative requirements."

After the Lion Air crash, which killed all the 189 people on board, the new software installed on the aircraft was the focus of attention of investigators and pilots.

The new engines installed in the planes were larger, which was part of Boeing’s competitive advantage in improving the aircraft’s fuel efficiency. To compensate for the difference in aerodynamics that arose from larger engines, Boeing installed a system known as the MCAS, which automatically pushes the nose down under certain circumstances. The main problem in the disaster of Lion Air is that the system could malfunction due to incorrect sensor readings.

After the accident, it became clear that the 737 Max pilots were not fully informed about the new software.

After the crash of Lion Air, the pilots began to actively ask Boeing to provide simulators for a new model of the aircraft. The company promised to fix the software for several weeks, but continued to insist that there was no need for additional training on simulators. It will be sufficient to notify the pilots about the nature of the software fix and how it will function. Airlines agreed.

After meetings, union pilots from American Airlines and Southwest agreed that they could now fly the plane safely and would not need simulator training. After being told how the new software worked, they believed they had “all the information about the system and the ability to control it if it got out of control,” Tajer recalls.

13 March US President Donald Trump ordered to immediately stop flights of Boeing 737 Max 8 and Max 9 aircraft in connection with the wrecks in Ethiopia in Indonesia. When the planes start flying again is currently unknown. The company is expected to release a software patch by April.

However, Boeing does not plan to revise its training procedures. NYT, citing sources, reports that regulator officials and Boeing agree that the best way to inform pilots about new software is additional computer training that can be conducted on personal computers.

Recall 10 March Ethiopian Airlines' Boeing 737 Max 8 plane flying from Addis Ababa to Nairobi crashed 60 km east of the capital of Ethiopia. Plane crash claimed the lives of 157 people.

The collapse of 8MAX in Ethiopia happened 4 a month after the crash in Indonesia. Then the new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft fell into the Java Sea shortly after departure from Jakarta. Killed 189 people aboard. The investigation has previously established that the aircraft of the new model may erroneously interpret data on the flow of air and arbitrarily lower the nose of the aircraft, directing it at the peak.

In November, the 2018 The US Federal Aviation Administration warned that problems with the flight control sensors that have occurred at the Boeing 737 Max crashed in Indonesia may also occur in the case of this series of 250 liners.

Boeing 737 MAX - a model that in the history of the company Boeing is selling the fastest. According to the manufacturer, orders for it have already placed more than 100 airlines worldwide.

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