MAX - Flygerne er ikke fornøyde - Senatorer ønsker offentliggjort informasjon -Curt Lewis

 American Airlines Pilots Say Plastic Cockpit Checklists Don't Work For Some Boeing 737 Max Emergencies And Noisy Alerts Can Distract

As airlines prepare to return the Boeing 737 Max to operation, American Airlines pilots say federal regulations regarding the aircraft must better account for likely human response to emergencies.

Late Monday, the Allied Pilots Association, which represents 15,000 American pilots, submitted comments to the Federal Aviation Administration, which has sought public comment on safety changes for the aircraft.

APA said potential responses to two critical events must be committed to memory, not posted on "quick reference card," (QRC), large plastic card that sits in the cockpit, which the FAA currently allows.

Memorized procedures are most appropriate for in emergencies regarding runaway stabilizer, when the stabilizer fails to stabilize at settings pilots select, and also for "airspeed unreliable" conditions, the union said.

Referring to the card "takes time," said APA spokesman Dennis Tajer. "For runaway stabilizer and airspeed unreliable incidents, the items that will save your life should be memorized not placed on a card. That means it will take too long."

Both "Runaway Stabilizer and Airspeed Unreliable are non-normal conditions that can rapidly lead to the loss of aircraft control if not immediately recognized with appropriate corrective actions taken by flight crews," APA wrote in its submission.

"Reliance solely on the QRC to address these malfunctions could result in an unacceptable delay in crew response to these events," it said.

Boeing 737 Max jets were grounded worldwide in March 2019 after two crashes killed 346 people. Like other international safety agency, the FAA is moving slowly to enabling the aircraft to fly again.

The crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 on October 29, 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on March 10, 2019 were linked to Boeing's installation of MCAS, a maneuvering characteristics augmentation system, in the aircraft. But the APA recommendations do not specifically address MCAS.

Besides seeking enhanced memory training, APA recommended a checklist reference item to disable erroneous stick shaker activation overspeed warnings. The noisy overspeed warnings can be distracting.

"Boeing does not have a step where you can pull a circuit breaker knob to stop an erroneous alert," Tajer said.

In its filing, APA said, "Continuous erroneous activation of the stall warning system (stick shaker) resulted in considerable and unnecessary distraction, significantly compromising the process of managing the non-normal condition and recovering the aircraft."

In other recommendations, APA said the runaway stabilizer checklist should be condensed. "Union pilots who recently participated in a 737 MAX evaluation indicate they would have more safely managed a low altitude runaway stabilizer condition had they been directed by the checklist to turn off the stabilizer trim cutoff switches more quickly," the union said.

Additionally, the union said FAA should include a checklist item noting that use of the main electric trim may not be possible in all runaway stabilizer events, because it does not work in all situations, and the emergency checklist should be expanded to include a method of relaxing control column pressure to assist manual trim.

On Monday, American said it would start pilot training for the 737 Max in November. But Tajer said that's too soon. "It's premature to schedule training for something still in development stages," he said.

Two Senate Democrats want FAA to release data on Boeing 737 MAX review

• Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal and Ed Markey called on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to make public all data and information used to justify the Boeing 737 MAX's return to service and disclose any internal objections raised by FAA employees.

WASHINGTON, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal and Ed Markey called on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to make public all data and information used to justify the Boeing BA.N737 MAX's return to service and disclose any internal objections raised by FAA employees.

The FAA has proposed requiring a series of software upgrades and other changes to be made before the return of the 737 MAX to service. The airplane has been grounded since March 2019 after two fatal crashes in five months killed 346 people.

"Robust transparency is needed to ensure that independent experts and the public can review whether this aircraft is truly safe before it takes to the skies again," the senators wrote. Boeing declined to comment. The FAA said it would respond directly to the senators.

The senators cited reports that suggested the FAA had often yielded to Boeing. "The FAA has demonstrated a disturbing pattern of deferral to Boeing in the past, and we feel strongly that the agency must fully disclose of all information related to its determinations moving forward," the senators wrote.

Separately, major pilots unions said the FAA should require new cockpit procedures for the 737 MAX to help pilots disable an erroneous stall alert that could be a serious distraction during midflight emergencies.

• The proposal about an erroneous "stick shaker" alert is among recommendations submitted during a 45-day public
• comment period for the FAA's proposed 737 MAX design and operating changes.
• Boeing filed comments proposing changing in wording to various sections of the proposed FAA directive.

The 737 MAX changes could pave the way for the FAA to lift a ban on the jet, potentially before year-end.

Separately, the Allied Pilots Association, which represents American Airlines' pilots AAL.O, also asked for a checklist to disable erroneous stick shaker activation as well as an overspeed warning.