In the wake of the fatal crashes, some pilots are demanding additional training on the 737 Max series aircraft, in the form of both ground school and flight simulator time.
"This is ridiculous," said Captain Tajer, a representative of the Allied Pilots Association, which represents 15,000 American Airlines pilots. "If you're going to have equipment on the airplane that we didn't know about, and we're going to be responsible for battling it if it fails, then we need to have hands-on experience."
The self-administered transition course for American Airlines pilots was a 56-minute online course, Tajer said, which he completed on his iPad. It was broken up into four broad sections, including a general description of changes to the aircraft, its engines, and its instrument panel. But an explanation or even an acknowledgement of the MCAS system was again missing, Tajer said.
"(The transition course) usually works. It works for us. We have pilots who have a lot of experience. When I need to do a little more study, I know where to go. And if I was to go to that place, the MCAS wasn't even there."
Boeing develops the courses with each individual airline, which is why Southwest's transition training course was longer than the course for American Airlines. But Trevino and Tajer say both failed to mention or explain the MCAS system.
On November 27, one month after the Lion Air crash, the American Airlines pilots' union met with Boeing representatives in Texas to convey "serious concerns about the issues raised by the Lion Air 737 Max accident and ongoing investigation," according to a statement from the union.
737 Max 8 pilots transitioned with self-administered online course - CNN
Now that Garuda has cancelled 49 of its Max 8 jets on order, it will be interesting to see if others follow suit. Boeing may have been a bit premature in stating that it will continue its production rate of 52 aircraft per month.
