U.S. President Donald Trump has just weighed in on the Boeing 737 MAX crash…via Twitter.
Let’s first look at what the president said in a series of two tweets just after 10:00AM ET this morning:
Airplanes are becoming far too complex to fly. Pilots are no longer needed, but rather computer scientists from MIT. I see it all the time in many products. Always seeking to go one unnecessary step further, when often old and simpler is far better. Split second decisions are needed, and the complexity creates danger. All of this for great cost yet very little gain. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want Albert Einstein to be my pilot. I want great flying professionals that are allowed to easily and quickly take control of a plane!
(I’ve preserved the tweets via screenshot/text because tweets are sometimes deleted without explanation)
Let’s assume President Trump is talking about the new M.C.A.S. system on the 737 MAX series that a U.S. airline pilot addressed earlier today on this blog.
> Read More: U.S. Commercial Pilot Addresses Boeing 737 MAX Safety (Exclusive)
I think many will sympathize with his sentiment that this new “safety” feature on the 737 MAX was probably unnecessary and at a minimum, has confused many pilots…including from U.S. airlines. And this idea of “far too complex” is certainly a frustration I share every time Apple updates my iOS or Microsoft releases a new version of Office.
But I don’t buy the “computer scientists” are needed argument. Just like any change, training is what is needed. That’s it. If pilots know exactly what to expect and are prepared to deal with it, the threat of disaster greatly diminishes. Planes have never flown themselves.
CONCLUSION
In response to the Lion Air crash, pilots have been trained on override systems if there is a sensor reading failure during climb out on the 737 MAX. Again, read this piece for more technical details. We can all agree that Boeing poorly communicated some of the technology updates in its 737 MAX series. But let’s not conclude that one safety update renders the aircraft too difficult for the thousands of highly-trained professionals in the USA and around the world to fly it.
What do you think about the president’s comments?
image: Gage Skidmore / WikiMedia Commons
He is totally right. What can be done technically does not always need to be done, and sometimes should not even be done.
Great to see the president once again adopt a sensible stance on an issue — I can’t wait to see how the liberals construe this!
I don’t need Trump weighing in on aviation. Stick to what you know — real estate, bankruptcy, and organized crime.
Lance, the president owns his own 757 along with helicopters. I think he knows a little bit about aircraft.
What an absurd assertion. Owning a plane is different to knowing how to operate it or its mechanics.
I think the best way for the FAA and Boeing to fully state the 737-8MAX plane is safe to fly is to get President Trump to fly in one.
Trump and his supporters are idiots.
Sorry I meant terrorists and mafia. All should be in jail.
Some say that President is the ultimate representative of the people. I can see that now…
“I think many will sympathize with his sentiment that this new “safety” feature on the 737 MAX was probably unnecessary …” This is probably incorrect. Boeing added the MCAS system because of changes to the plane’s balance, which resulted from the new engines. You can argue that Boeing should have just gone for a clean-sheet design rather than try to correct for this with MCAS; there were competitive pressures from Airbus that likely drove Boeing in this direction. Regardless, not to take away from Boeing’s responsibility here but the facts don’t support the idea that Boeing added MCAS just for shits and giggles.
Note I said “sympathize”. I did not say he was correct.
The idea of Boeing placing that MCAS system in the 737MAX without bothering to include it in the training smacked of arrogance on their part. On that issue, the president has a point (and oh, I wish he wouldn’t do these off-script tweets). However, as tempting as it is to draw a parallel between the Lion Air crash and this latest one (and there are similarities), it is far too early to do so. For example, eyewitness accounts reported smoke and debris coming from the back of the aircraft. That, if true, isn’t indicative of the same issue as Lion Air fought. Let’s wait and see what the “black” boxes tell us before jumping to conclusions. After all, what if this was a bombing? Too early to tell what went on here.
I agree with him. Boeing really seems out of step with the public on all of this.
What the president was saying that Boeing over-engineered their plane. He has a point.
Trump should stick to what he knows: flim-flam, not flying. Owning aircraft is not the same as knowing how to fly or fix one.
He has a point though: looks like both pilots of Lion Air and Ethiopian didn’t have a training for how to deal with plane’s automated systems malfunctions.
It looks like there were 2 sensor reading (or other automation systems components) failures in 5 months (even more considering multiple complaints of US pilots in federal database about sudden nose point down when autopilot engaged after the take off). There’s an obvious problem with 737-max automation (whether it’s caused by sensors or something else) and Boeing tries to counter it by providing training how to deal with malfunction instead of addressing the malfunction itself? Looks like classic case of profit vs safety. FAA behavior is even more outrageous, do they have Boeing lobbyists pushing them to say “nothing to see here”?