Indonesia plane crash: Pilots' union says Boeing withheld safety information

Commercial airline pilots at Southwest Airlines and American Airlines were not informed during training about a new flight control system that may have played a role in the fatal crash of a Boeing 737 MAX8 operated by Lion Air in Indonesia last month, pilot union representatives from both airlines said Wednesday.

Jon Weaks, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, said pilots were not made aware of the issue until last week when Boeing sent out an advisory over the issue.

"We did not know this was on the Boeing 737 MAX models," Weaks said in a Tuesday interview, referring to a new automated flight control feature designed to prevent the plane from stalling by automatically nudging its nose downward in response to externally collected flight data. "When you're responsible for that aircraft and there are systems on there that you have not been made aware of, that's not right."

Dennis Tajer, communications committee chairman at Allied Pilots Association (APA), a labor union representing American Airlines pilots, said Boeing exhibited a "failure of the safety culture" by not updating pilots early enough on how the new systems work.

"This was clearly a sign that the safety culture at Boeing was missing on a cylinder or two," he said. "We're all on the same side looking at Boeing saying 'what else you got?'"

In response to the concerns raised by the pilots, a Boeing spokesperson said the company is "deeply saddened" by the recent plane crash in Indonesia and is working with officials to determine what went wrong.

"We are taking every measure to fully understand all aspects of this incident, working closely with the investigating team and all regulatory authorities involved," Boeing media relations lead Paul Bergman said. "We are confident in the safety of the 737 MAX. Safety remains our top priority and is a core value for everyone at Boeing."

The authorities are trying to understand the implications of an October 29 crash near Jakarta, Indonesia, in which a Boeing 737 MAX8 jet operated by Lion Air crashed into the Java Sea with 189 people on-board. A "black box" flight data recorder recovered from the wreckage showed that the plane's airspeed indicator had malfunctioned on its last four flights.

The exact cause of the crash, however, remains unknown. In the meantime airlines, pilots, regulators, and jet manufacturers have been frantically reviewing flight protocols and systems to ensure passengers on other 737 MAX8 jets are not put at risk.