[030119.EN.AIR] Boeing Counters Criticism After Fatal Lion Air 737 MAX Crash Off Jakarta

AMERICAN planemaker Boeing has countered charges that it could have better alerted airlines to a new anti-stall feature in the 737 MAX jetliner involved in the recent fatal Indonesian crash, reported Bloomberg.

"You may have seen media reports that we intentionally withheld information about airplane functionality from our customers. That's simply untrue," Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg told employees in a statement.

"The relevant function is described in the Flight Crew Operations Manual and we routinely engage with our customers about how to operate our airplanes safely," he said.

Mr Muilenburg differed with US pilot unions and a report in the Wall Street Journal that the company withheld a description of the obscure flight-control system that sometimes can pitch the aircraft's nose downward if it suspects the plane is losing lift on its wings.

Boeing also scrapped a conference call with Max operators, said people familiar with the situation, who asked not to be identified. They said they expected the call to be rescheduled. Boeing has held several similar sessions to answer customer questions since the Lion Air tragedy.

Airlines have been eager for details about the little-known anti-stall feature of the MAX that has emerged as an area of focus for investigators as they try to figure out what caused Lion Air Flight 610 to crash into the Java Sea near Jakarta.

Southwest Airlines, American Airline, Norwegian Air Shuttle and United are among carriers flying the MAX. The three big US pilot unions have voiced concern over what they said was a lack of information about the system.

There's no specific reference to it in the Boeing pilot manual used as the basis for how airlines document the aircraft, according to a memo written to pilots by Southwest Airlines on November 10.

Source : HKSG.