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The basic checklist for handling a problem known as leak stabilizer compensation has remained substantially unchanged since 1967, the early days of the 737, according to Dennis Tajer of the Allied Pilots Association. He added that FAA officials had briefed aviation safety officials and pilot unions in April on the review.
Such an examination is "unusual" after an accident, said David Soucie, a former FAA safety inspector, today a security analyst at CNN. By modifying the checklist, pilots may need additional training.
The compensator on the horizontal stabilizer, on the tail of an airplane, is a way to control the steep rise or descent of the aircraft. In addition to manual control, it can be moved by the autopilot and a new feature of the 737 Max that has been closely examined by accident investigators, the maneuvering feature augmentation system, known as MCAS. . The checklist is intended to give pilots an emergency method to override automated systems and regain control of the aircraft.
Asked to comment on the review, an FAA spokesman told CNN the agency's statement at the April 12 meeting, citing a discussion on "pilot training" and stating that the format "allowed an open exchange between all participants". The spokesman asked about the history of the checklist to Boeing, who did not respond to a request on Friday, asking for clarification on the date of the last revision of the procedure.
Tajer said the Allied Pilots Association, which represents 15,000 American Airlines pilots, was ready at the meeting to ask the FAA to conduct an expedited review of the checklist. He is concerned that the FAA, in his view, has not taken a sufficiently concrete approach to regulate Boeing and audit its work and conclusions.
"I want them to be invasive, I want them to be aggressive, I want them to be reluctant to know all the information," he said. "I want them to be more than trustful but check."
The FAA has repeatedly defended its certification of the Max, which implied – by law – work delegated to Boeing employees.
"The FAA aircraft certification processes are well established and have consistently resulted in safe aircraft design," the agency said in a statement. "The 737-Max certification program lasted five years and required 110,000 man-hours of FAA personnel, in accordance with the FAA standard certification process."
Tajer said that even if the basic steps did not change, the wording of the Spartan checklist could be supplemented with instructions such as those contained in Boeing's companion documents: "Two drivers may be required to perform the manual adjustment from the plane. " "It may be necessary to lighten the load of the elevator to manually adjust the aircraft."
Following the crash of Lion Air in Indonesia in October, Boeing issued a pilot bulletin reinforcing the procedure and revealing the presence of the MCAS system. Since the second 737 Max crash in March in Ethiopia, Boeing has stated that the leak stabilizer compensation procedure was sufficient. Both accidents killed 346 people.
"Our analysis determined that a pilot would be able to counteract an erroneous system input by using the trim switches located on the command dial, or by following the anti-runaway stabilization procedure and using manual compensation." , said a spokeswoman for Boeing in an April statement. The statement adds that "the proper response of the flight crew to the uncontrolled trim, whatever the cause, is contained in the existing procedures".
Preliminary reports from Indonesia and Ethiopia indicate that pilots have followed the procedure. The two planes eventually crashed. The reports do not indicate whether an improved checklist could have been life-saving, but the Indonesian report notes, "None of the checklists performed contained the instruction" Plan to land at the l & # 39; 39, the nearest suitable airport. "
"The crew completed the Flying Stabilizer Checklist and placed the Stabilizer Cutting Switch in the cut position, confirming that the manual trim did not work," says the preliminary report on the crash in Ethiopia.
Pilots and experts often refer to the Leak Stabilizer Compensation Clearing Checklist as an "element of memory", an emergency procedure that pilots conduct repeatedly and repeatedly. can perform almost instinctively.
"The elements rooted in your brain arrive after hours and hours of simulator training," safety analyst Soucie said, and modifications could force pilots to take additional simulator training.
Tajer said the FAA officials had also revealed analyzes of two other emergency checklists – for managing inaccuracies known as airspeed and angle of attack. and – that these analyzes could help determine whether the lists contained the details they will need several generations later.
Procedures have not been updated, he said, "since Lyndon Johnson was president and the country was struggling with the Vietnam War."
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