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Ethiopian crash could have been prevented if Boeing took pilots' concerns seriously, union says

Dennis Tajer, a spokesman for Allied Pilots Association -- a union of American Airlines pilots -- told CNN Business that Boeing had "a poisoned, diseased philosophy" for a global company.
"Shame on you... we're going to call you out on it," Tajer said.
Boeing did not comment on the union's position early Thursday morning.
In recent weeks, both Boeing's CEO and the acting Federal Aviation Administration administrator have said that the actions of the pilots were in part to blame for the recent Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashes. Both planes were Boeing 737 Max 8 planes.
Tajer pointed instead to Boeing's software, about which he said American Airlines' pilots had expressed concerns in a November 2017 meeting with the company. The meeting was a few weeks after the Lion Air crash, but months before the Ethiopian Airlines crash.
It would be fair to conclude, Tajer said, that if Boeing had taken the suggestions of the pilots, the Ethiopian Airlines crash might have been prevented.
Boeing says it has completed 737 Max software fix
On the Ethiopian flight, pilots struggled to right the plane after the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) software, which pushes the nose of the aircraft down if it senses a stall, erroneously activated and as the plane traveled at a high speed, according to a preliminary report.
The software pushed the Ethiopian Airlines plane into an aggressive downward angle, according to Tajer.
The pilots did what they were instructed to do, he said.
"They had wired that thing so that is was irrecoverable," Tajer said. "It just blew us away."
In the meeting, American Airlines pilots made suggestions including having a way to turn off MCAS and adding an angle of attack disagree alert on all planes, he said. Tajer said Boeing dismissed the concerns.
Audio reveals pilots angrily confronting Boeing about 737 Max feature before second deadly crash
The changes will be a part of a new software fix, Tajer said, but were not implemented before the Ethiopian crash.
Last month, the FAA announced it was grounding all Boeing 737 Max planes because it had identified similarities between the Ethiopian crash and the Lion Air crash six months earlier.
Boeing issued a statement at the time saying it would recommend the temporary global suspension of the entire 737 Max fleet.
On Thursday, FAA officials are meeting with aviation delegates from eight nations and the European Union in Fort Worth, Texas. Dan Elwell, the FAA's acting administrator, said the United States will be the first to certify the 737 Max for flight, but he did not say when that would be.

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