Boeing 737 Max 8 pilots trained on iPads instead of flight simulators
- 5 years ago
SEATTLE — As investigations continue into the causes of recent Boeing 737 Max 8 crashes, pilot training has now become a focus, according to the New York Times.
Specifically, if pilots were sufficiently prepared for the new software on the aircraft. When the plane was introduced, Boeing thought that pilots who had flown earlier models didn't need additional simulator training and U.S. regulators agreed.
According to the New York Times, normally for new plane models, pilots train for hours in huge flight simulators.
This didn't happen with the Max line of planes. Instead, many pilots with 737 experience learned about the plane by looking at an iPad for two hours.
Part of the reason was that as Boeing rushed to finish the plane, flight simulators made for the Max weren't ready.
Greg Bowen, the training and standards chair at the Southwest pilots association, was told by senior leadership at the airline the engineering data necessary to design simulator software was still being finalized right up until the plane was nearly completed.
According to Bowen, "they were building the airplane and still designing it. The data to build a simulator didn't become available until about when the plane was ready to fly."
What's more troubling is that the training that was provided by Boeing did not cover any of the new software that would be used in the 737.
Specifically, if pilots were sufficiently prepared for the new software on the aircraft. When the plane was introduced, Boeing thought that pilots who had flown earlier models didn't need additional simulator training and U.S. regulators agreed.
According to the New York Times, normally for new plane models, pilots train for hours in huge flight simulators.
This didn't happen with the Max line of planes. Instead, many pilots with 737 experience learned about the plane by looking at an iPad for two hours.
Part of the reason was that as Boeing rushed to finish the plane, flight simulators made for the Max weren't ready.
Greg Bowen, the training and standards chair at the Southwest pilots association, was told by senior leadership at the airline the engineering data necessary to design simulator software was still being finalized right up until the plane was nearly completed.
According to Bowen, "they were building the airplane and still designing it. The data to build a simulator didn't become available until about when the plane was ready to fly."
What's more troubling is that the training that was provided by Boeing did not cover any of the new software that would be used in the 737.