The iPad has replaced the bulky flight manuals airline pilots lugged from gate to gate. But should it be used to train pilots on how to fly new aircraft?
Aviation officials will pursue this question as they investigate two recent fatal crashes of the new Boeing 737 Max.
An Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed shortly after takeoff last week, killing all 157 on board. Preliminary reports suggest the pilots experienced similar control problems of the crew on a doomed Lion Air flight in October that killed 189.
All 737 Max planes are currently grounded across the globe until further notice.
A report in the The New York Times found many pilots of the now grounded planes received a two-hour training on an iPad rather than use the more traditional flight simulator.
Boeing, according to the report, had not finalized engineering data to build simulators until near completion of the 737 Max. Boeing had just one simulator in the U.S. by the time the aircraft went into service.
Instead, Boeing believed pilots experienced flying an earlier 737 model could receive adequate instruction with a two-hour training on the iPad plus a 13-page handbook produced by pilots.
The materials, according to The Times report did not include the new software that was the center of the Lion Air investigation.
“When you find out that there are systems on it that are wildly different that affect the performance of the aircraft, having a simulator is part of a safety culture,” 737 pilot Dennis Tajer, a spokesman for the American Airlines pilot union, told The Times. “It can be the difference between a safe, recoverable flight and one that makes the newspapers.”
Source: The New York Times
