Pilots flying on US routes filed reports about their concerns and problems with the state-of-the-art Boeing 737 MAX last year. The aircraft, widely used across the world, got banned temporarily while two fatal air crashes are investigated. So far, the UK is the latest to announce a ban. Others include Australia, the EU, China, and India, according to The New York Times. Plus an airline in South Africa grounded their plane, IOL reported. However, so far the US had not grounded them.
Pilots flying the Boeing 737 Max reported problems in the past
According to some investigation done by the New York Times, pilots who flew US routes filed their reports in November last year.
It looks like just two other airplane reports that regularly become filed in their thousands every year. They note, "The complaints were listed in a public database maintained by NASA and filled with thousands of reports, which pilots file when they encounter errors or issues."
Yet another pilot suggested that there is insufficient training on the new aircraft. His report felt it was very wrong of the FAA to allow pilots to fly the new plane with extensive differences from other models, noting the manuals were "inadequate and almost criminally insufficient." Regarding reported problems, two filed reports from last year both pointed to an issue with the autopilot. The first report said that about three seconds after engaging autopilot, the plane nose-dived.
The second one indicated a similar problem.
Autopilot problems could be behind the fatal air crashes
In the two fatal accidents that happened, all passengers and crew were killed. Happening within six months of each other, the first took place in Indonesia and involved Lion Air. The most recent one reported by CNN happened this past week in Ethiopia.
The Ethiopian Airlines plane lost contact six minutes into the flight after the experienced pilot reported a problem. While the results of black box data get examined, people hope for an exact cause of these crashes so Boeing can rectify the problem.
It could very well be related to the autopilot, as both planes that crashed reportedly seemed to nose-dive into the ground.
Although it's pure conjecture right now, the crashes are alarmingly similar to what happened to the US-route pilots. One pilot wrote, "I reviewed in my mind our automation setup and flight profile but can’t think of any reason the aircraft would pitch nose down so aggressively."
Two reports where the US pilots regained control
With two reports coming from pilots who experienced the sudden nose-dip but managed to regain control of the plane, hopefully, their accounts will be taken into consideration. Both of them took back control after turning off their autopilots. There are pilots out there right now, still flying these planes. Actually, the US has not banned the Boeing 737 MAX from operation in their airspace as of yet.
