According to American media reports, at least 5 U.S. pilots have complained earlier about problems with the automated system of the Boeing 737 MAX 8. Last Sunday a 737 MAX 8 aircraft crashed in Ethiopia, killing 157 people, while a similar accident occured in October last year in Indonesia, killing 189 people.

At least 2 U.S. flights have reported that an automated system to prevent a stall during flight, seemed to cause their 737 MAX 8 aircraft to tilt down suddenly.

In reports filed in 2018 – in a database compiled by NASA – the pilots said that the problem occured soon after engaging the autopilot. As a result the nose of the aircraft went down so fast – within a few seconds – that the alarm went off.

In both cases the pilots recovered quickly after disconnecting the autopilot, they said.

According to the Dallas Morning News, one of the pilots states that the autopilot’s manual is ‘inadequate’ and even ‘almost criminal’.

Another pilot complains that the Boeing 737 MAX is different from earlier models and that no proper training has been given. “The fact that this aircraft requires all kinds of emergency procedures to be able to fly is unacceptable,” he said in November last year.

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(Image: Boeing)