BA Boeing Co

By Andy Pasztor and Alison Sider 

Plans to mandate simulator training for pilots before Boeing Co.'s 737 MAX can return to service -- already a time-consuming and costly undertaking -- could face a further complication: personal friction between the plane maker's staff and U.S. government officials.

Internal Boeing messages recently made public amid House and Senate investigations showed company pilots ridiculing their counterparts at the Federal Aviation Administration.

Now several of those agency experts are responsible for helping approve a version of Boeing's updated training programs, according to industry and government officials familiar with the details.

How the two sides get along could partly determine how long it takes to get the MAX flying again, nearly a year after it was grounded world-wide following two fatal crashes that claimed 346 lives.

Some of the FAA employees are still fuming over what they contend were earlier efforts by a pair of senior Boeing pilots to mislead them about the need for any simulator training when the MAX was first certified to carry passengers, the officials familiar with the details said.

In one internal message from 2015, a Boeing employee compared the knowledge levels of FAA regulators to those of household pets. Describing the regulators' response to a company presentation aimed at minimizing training requirements for 737 MAX pilots, the Boeing employee said: "It was like dogs watching TV."

Boeing has repudiated that and other messages made public over the past few months, saying a cavalier attitude toward safety doesn't represent company values. FAA officials have played down any tensions with Boeing, saying the company has a new chief technical pilot responsible for MAX training. Nonetheless, the industry and government officials said, lingering hard feelings could complicate an already convoluted process.

A spokesman for Boeing said its training proposals, expected to be approved by regulators in coming months, aim to improve aviators' knowledge of the MAX's flight-control systems and related flight-deck commands, as well as restore confidence in the jet.

An FAA spokesman said the team of employees in Seattle focused on training "is comprised of professionals who are trained to do highly specialized jobs" with an unwavering commitment to safety.

Boeing and the FAA, however, first need to resolve differing approaches on the content of training. The company initially proposed that pilots practice, one by one, a handful of selected maneuvers. The FAA, by contrast, favors more expansive training that highlights longer scenarios featuring the interplay of different emergencies, according to the officials.

Some international regulators have vowed to craft their own training programs, which could add months to the vetting process.

Meanwhile, airlines generally are reluctant to commit to any training curriculum before software fixes to the MAX are formally blessed by regulators. Last-minute tweaks to the planes could require carriers to repeat training.

"We're very encouraged to see Boeing signal the importance of simulator training," Nicholas Robinson, director general of civil aviation at industry regulator Transport Canada, said in an interview. But he added, "It's still premature to identify if what Boeing has proposed is the full extent of what we will end up approving and recommending."

Simplicity was part of the sales pitch to airlines when Boeing was developing the MAX. Carriers wanted a plane that would fit seamlessly into their existing fleets of 737 jets, and they were eager to avoid having to put pilots through costly simulator sessions. Boeing had promised to refund Southwest Airlines Co. $1 million for every MAX that required additional simulator training, according to a company sales brochure released by House investigators.

But Boeing reversed course earlier this year when it said it would recommend simulator training.

The change of heart came as FAA leaders communicated to Boeing that they saw simulator sessions as essential safety improvements. Boeing's move came two days before it released a trove of internal messages revealing that a faction of its employees viewed avoiding simulator requirements as a priority that trumped nearly all other considerations during the years the MAX was under development.

The manufacturer's change in thinking surprised FAA leaders and some carriers. It also didn't immediately propose any specifics, according to government and industry officials briefed on the matter.

Even when Boeing, airlines and aviation regulators do agree on the content of training sessions, securing simulator time could be challenging.

There are only about three dozen MAX flight simulators around the globe, and airlines are clamoring for their pilots to get access. The FAA is also working to approve more simulators in the U.S.

Boeing owns eight of the machines, made by third-party manufacturers, at its training sites in Miami, London, Shanghai, Singapore and Istanbul. The company is acquiring two more, and a spokesman said it was doing everything it can to accommodate customers' requests to use the devices.

Some carriers are taking measures into their own hands. Southwest said in January that it struck a deal with manufacturer CAE Inc. to buy three more flight simulators that it hopes to have ready to use by summer, on top of the three it has and three others on order. The carrier said the training will delay the plane's returns by a couple of months beyond what the airline had planned.

CAE said that six of the seven simulator orders it has received this year are for units that replicate the MAX. Textron Inc., another manufacturer, has also said it would start making more of the devices.

Even airlines that are confident they will get access to simulators are having to make adjustments. American Airlines Group Inc. is now planning to train its pilots on a rolling basis, rather than having them all ready to immediately fly the MAX once it returns to service.

All three of the U.S. carriers that previously operated the plane have taken it out of their schedules until August or September.

--Kim Mackrael contributed to this article.

Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com and Alison Sider at alison.sider@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 28, 2020 13:07 ET (18:07 GMT)

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