Boeing 737 Max Crash: Did Foreign Pilots Have Enough Training To Fly Commercial Jets?
July 8, 2019n the final, harrowing seconds of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, the pilots tried desperately to keep their Boeing 737 Max aloft.
Nothing worked. Not pulling back on the yoke to try to get the nose up. Not attempting to adjust the trim, the preliminary report on the crash would show. Making matters worse, multiple alarms, clackers and other audible warnings distracted the pair. The jet crashed in March outside Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing 157.
The crash laid bare Boeing’s shortcomings in having designed an automated flight system that overrode the actions of the flight crew. But it also raised questions about pilot experience — whether mistakes were made in the cockpit and whether foreign airlines require pilots to have enough training. Those questions will be at the fore Monday, when a committee of the United Nations-backed body that sets international standards for air travel is scheduled to take a fresh look at pilot requirements.