Fix to 737 MAX is ready amid wave of groundings

World
Europe

A fix to the anti-stall system suspected in the crash of a Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet that killed 189 people in Indonesia is ready, industry sources said Saturday, as the company tries to avoid a lengthy grounding of its planes.

Boeing was due to present the patch to officials and pilots of US airlines, American, Southwest and United, in Renton, Washington state, where the plane is assembled, other sources said.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will receive the patch "early next week," a government source added.

Asked how long the certification process could take after the patch is in the hands of the authorities, this source said that nothing has been decided yet. The FAA declined to comment on it.

Passengers' personal belongings are seen at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, Addis Ababa, March 12, 2019. /VCG Photo

The Lion Air crash in Indonesia last October and another accident this month involving an Ethiopian Airlines jet, which killed 346 people between them, have raised major concerns about the safety certification of the 737 MAX 8 model.

Although it will take months to determine the exact cause of both crashes, investigators in the Lion case have honed in on the MCAS automated anti-stalling system designed to point the nose of the plane downward if it is in danger of stalling, or losing lift.

American Airlines and Southwest pilots were set to test simulators with the updates on Saturday, according to the sources.

Boeing neither confirmed nor denied the information.

Were Boeing's training requirements enough?

Boeing MAX 8 planes are grounded worldwide. /VCG Photo

In addition to the software modification, the industry sources said Boeing has also finalized updates to its flight and pilots' training manuals, as the FAA asked.

Tewolde Gebremariam, Chief of Ethiopian Airlines said earlier Saturday that the warning and training requirements set for the now-grounded 737 Max 8 aircraft may not have been adequate.

He said after the Lion Air crash off Indonesia in October, the U.S. FAA and Boeing "came up with contents that we incorporated in our working manuals and also briefed all our pilots. But today we believe that might not have been enough."

Reuters reported on Wednesday that the pilots of the doomed Ethiopian plane never trained in a simulator for the Max. However, Gebremariam said the 737 Max simulator isn't designed to imitate problems in the new jet's flight-control software. "It wouldn't have made any difference".

People have a moment of silence for the victims at the UN headquarters in Nairobi, March 11, 2019. /VCG Photo

He insisted the carrier's pilots went through all the extra training required by Boeing and the FAA to fly the 737 Max 8 jet. Gebremariam said earlier in the week that the training was meant to help crews shift from an older model of the 737 to the Max 8, which entered airline service in 2017.

Ethiopia crash captain did not train on airline's MAX simulator: source

In a statement, he said pilots were also made aware of an emergency directive issued by the FAA after the Lion Air crash.

(With inputs from agencies)

(Cover image: Tewolde Gebremariam, Ethiopian Airlines Chief Executive Officer. /VCG Photo)