Loading...In the frightening moments of Flight 302 operated by Ethiopian Airlines the pilots were struggling to keep Boeing 737 Max in flight. But despite their attempts they failed to do it.
According to the first reports nothing really helped. Neither trying to pull back on the yoke nor attempting to keep the nose up helped. Everything made things worse. An endless amount of warnings, alarms drew the pilots’ attention away. The plane had a crash. It happened in March. 157 passengers were killed in the crash.
Due to the crash it became obvious that there were certain drawbacks in the Boeing automated flight system. It bypassed the flight crew’s actions. But at the same time the pilots’ experience was questioned as well. There are certain questions which require answers. For instance, if pilots made the mistakes and if foreign airlines demand their pilots to have appropriate trainings.
The questions raised are going to be discussed on Monday during the investigation of the matter by the UN committee. It is responsible for bringing out aviation standards.
US requires its pilots to have at least 1,500 flight hours before letting pilots work for commercial airlines. As for international regulations, only 240 ones are enough. Moreover, these hours may include those of stimulators. The Ethiopian airlines pilot had 8,122 hours of flight time. While the first officer had 361 hours in total. He received his license for commercial airliners a few months earlier.
There was another crash of Boeing 737 Max operated by Lion Air. 189 passengers died in the crash that time. And again, the automated system prevented pilots from pulling up.
Following Ethipian crash Boeing had claimed the plane to be safe. And moreover, pilots have a possibility to turn off the automated system. So, the UN committee is going to review flight hour requirements for pilots outside US and for first pilots as well.
