Yared Getachew, 29, the captain of a doomed Ethiopian Airlines flight did not get a chance to practise on his airline’s new simulator for the Boeing 737 MAX 8 before he died in a crash with 157 others.
The March 10 disaster, following another MAX 8 crash in Indonesia in October, has set off one of the biggest inquiries in aviation history, focused on the safety of a new automated system and whether crews understood it properly. In both cases, the pilots lost control soon after take-off and fought a losing battle to stop their jets plunging down.
According to a pilot colleague quoted by Reuters, Getachew was due for refresher training at the end of March.
The MAX, which came into service two years ago, has a new automated system called MCAS (Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System). It is meant to prevent loss of lift which can cause an aerodynamic stall sending the plane downwards in an uncontrolled way.
But the Ethiopian Airlines pilot told Reuters that Boeing did not send manuals on MCAS.
On the other hand, Ethiopian Airlines reacted that its pilots had completed training recommended by Boeing and approved by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on differences between the previous 737 NG aircraft and the 737 MAX version.
Ethiopian Airlines added that such statements were uninformed, incorrect, irresponsible and misleading during the period of the accident investigation.
Via Reuters
