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.
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 08:14 ET (13:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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