Boeing said on Sunday that it was aware of problems with a key safety indicator in 2017, but it didn't inform airlines or the FAA until after the Lion Air crash a year later. Here, 737 Max jets built for American Airlines (left) and Air Canada are parked at the airport adjacent to a Boeing production facility in Renton, Wash. CREDIT: ELAINE THOMPSON/AP

FAA Chief: Pilots Should Have Been Told About Automated System On 737 Max

By Carolyn Adolph
Boeing said on Sunday that it was aware of problems with a key safety indicator in 2017, but it didn't inform airlines or the FAA until after the Lion Air crash a year later. Here, 737 Max jets built for American Airlines (left) and Air Canada are parked at the airport adjacent to a Boeing production facility in Renton, Wash. CREDIT: ELAINE THOMPSON/AP
Boeing has previously said it was aware of problems with a key safety indicator in 2017, but it didn't inform airlines or the FAA until after the Lion Air crash a year later. Here, 737 Max jets built for American Airlines (left) and Air Canada are parked at the airport adjacent to a Boeing production facility in Renton, Wash. CREDIT: ELAINE THOMPSON/AP

Read On

A U.S. House committee grilled air regulators about Boeing’s 737 Max Wednesday.

They asked why pilots were not told about the automated system known as MCAS from the very beginning.

“It wasn’t in the manual and they didn’t know about it,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon).

Acting FAA chief Daniel Elwell replied, “I as a pilot when I first heard about this, I thought that there should have been more text in the manual about MCAS, I agree.”

The union representing American Airlines pilots has the same question. That union brought a recording device to a meeting with Boeing shortly after the first 737 Max crash, a Lion Air flight off Indonesia.

In the recording obtained by CBS, pilots were angry — they hadn’t known MCAS even existed.

“These guys didn’t even know the damn system was on the airplane, nor did anybody else. We’re the last line of defense to being in that smoking hole and we need the knowledge,” pilots said in the meeting.

But the Boeing executives responded that pilots didn’t need their heads cluttered up with information about MCAS.

Copyright 2019 KUOW. To see more, visit kuow.org

Related Stories:

Passengers move through lines to check baggage for upcoming Alaska Airlines' flights, while others wait, some for flights delayed, on Tuesday, Jan. 9. (CREDIT: Lauren Gallup / NWPB)

A Journey Delayed — Sea-Tac airport flights delayed, canceled after 737 MAX 9 grounding

The ticketing counter, bag drop, and agent stations for Alaska Airlines at Sea-Tac International Airport were busy but not crowded late Tuesday morning. Some passengers moved through the lines and onto security, others stood against the wall opposite Alaska’s blue and green signs, with their bags sitting closely next to them, scrolling through phones, waiting for a journey, delayed.
On Tuesday, FlightAware reported over 60 cancellations and over 140 delays at the airport, the majority of which were Alaska Airlines flights.

Lauren Gallup January 10, 2024
Boeing continues to store large numbers of undelivered 737 MAX jets at Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake.

Stockpile of Boeing 737 MAX jets assures Moses Lake years of work

Moses Lake, Washington, doesn’t have commercial airline service, but the casual visitor to Grant County International Airport might assume otherwise. Shiny Boeing 737 MAX jets are parked wingtip to wingtip in row after row on two sides of the expansive airfield. They sport colorful liveries from a wide variety of exotic carriers such as Xiamen Air, Ukraine International, Ural Airlines and Donghai Airlines, to name a few.

Tom Banse March 10, 2023
Tags: