Lion Air crash: Pilots unaware of Boeing jet’s new control features

BOEING didn’t tell airline pilots about features of a new flightcontrol system in its 737 MAX that reportedly is a focus of the investigation into last month’s deadly crash in Indonesia, according to pilots who fly the jet in the United States.

Pilots say they were not trained in new features of an anti-stall system in the aircraft that differ from previous models of the popular 737.

The automated system is designed to help pilots avoid raising the plane’s nose too high, which can cause the plane to stall, or lose the aerodynamic lift needed to keep flying. The system automatically pushes the nose of the plane down.

But if that nose-down command is triggered by faulty sensor readings — as suspected in the Lion Air crash — pilots can struggle to control the plane, which can go into a dive and perhaps crash, according to a Boeing safety bulletin and safety regulators.

The bulletin included new details on how to stop a runaway series of events from leading to a crash, pilots say.

“It is something we did not have before in any of our training. It wasn’t in our books. American didn’t have it,” said Dennis Tajer, a 737 pilot and spokesman for the pilots union at American Airlines.

Jon Weaks, a 737 captain and president of the pilots union at Southwest, said he couldn’t recall a similar omission in a Boeing operating manual.

“I was not pleased. How could something like this happen? We want to be given the information to keep our pilots, our passengers and our families safe,” he said.

The MAX is the newest version of the twin-engine Boeing 737. More than 200 have been delivered to airlines worldwide, including American, Southwest and United.

Boeing Chairman and CEO Dennis Muilenburg said the Chicago-based firm is confident the MAX is a safe airplane. He said Boeing did not withhold operating details from airlines and flight crews.

“We ensure that we provide all information that is needed to safely fly our airplanes,” Muilenburg told Fox Business on Tuesday. He said Boeing bulletins to airlines and pilots “point them back to existing flight procedures” to handle the kind of sensor problem suspected in last month’s crash.

A Southwest spokeswoman said the new automated maneuvering system was not included in the operating manual for MAX models. An American spokesman said the airline was unaware of some new automated functions in the MAX but hasn’t experienced nose-direction errors. A United spokesman said Boeing does not believe additional pilot training is needed.

On October 29, Lion Air Flight 610 plunged into the Java Sea shortly after takeoff from Jakarta. All 189 people on board were killed.

Indonesian investigators say the 737 MAX 8 experienced malfunctions with sensors that indicate the angle of the nose on four recent flights, including the fatal one.