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A number of Boeing 737 MAX 8 ground-based aircraft from Southwest Airlines are represented parked at the Victorville Airport in Victorville, California, United States, on March 26, 2019.
Mike Blake | Reuters
Boeing did not tell Southwest Airlines, its biggest customer of the 737 Max, that a standard safety device designed to warn drivers of sensor malfunction had been disabled on the jets.
The safety feature is an alert that lights up in the cockpit if the aircraft's attack angle sensors transmit erroneous data regarding the pitch of its nose. This feature is known as angle of attack mismatch light and has been included in previous versions of the 737.
Southwest was aware of this change only after the fatal crash of a Lion Air flight in Indonesia. The airline, in a statement to CNBC, said Boeing had said in his manual that the LEDs were working on the 737 Max.
Southwest said Boeing had told the airline that the fires were unusable only after the Lion Air crash. The airline then took action to activate the alerts.
Southwest Airline Statement:
Upon delivery (prior to the Lion Air event), Boeing described the AOA Disagree lights as being able to operate on all MAX aircraft, regardless of the choice of optional AOA indicators on the main flight screen. The manual documentation presented by Boeing during the commissioning of the Southwest MAX system indicated that the AOA Disagree Light operated on the aircraft, in the same manner as the lights in our NG Series. After the Lion Air event, Boeing informed us that the AOA Disagree lights were not operational without the optional AOA indicators on the MAX aircraft. At that time, Southwest had installed the AOA indicators on the PFD, which resulted in the activation of the AOA Disagree LEDs. These two elements now serve as an additional control point on all MAX devices.
The Federal Aviation Administration's safety inspectors and supervisors were also unaware of the change, according to government and industry officials who spoke at The Wall Street Journal.
According to the Journal, the FAA even considered stopping Southwest's Max fleet while it determined whether the airline's pilots needed additional training on the security alert. . But these discussions were brief and did not get in the chain, the newspaper reported.
Boeing, in a statement to CNBC, said the "angle of attack" fire lights would be included as a standard Max feature.
"At the time of the return to service, all customers will see the AOA alert disagree by default and will have the option to include the AOA flag at no cost," said a spokesman for Boeing. "This change will be made to all MAX aircraft – production and upgrades."
The Boeing 737 Max was grounded by the FAA in March as a result of fatal accidents in Indonesia and Ethiopia, which claimed the lives of 346 people.
Several major airlines have extended cancellations of Max flights during the summer. American canceled Max flights until August 19th, for a total of 115 flights a day, while Southwest canceled flights until August 5th and the United States until June 5th.
The Wall Street Journal first reported this story.
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