Pilots Now Spend More Time Learning Automated Systems than Hands-On Flying

[Lakados]

It can. It just flies slightly differently from the NG, hence the need for MCAS (to minimize re-certifying). The idea is that pilots don't have to learn a new type, so Southwest and the like can swap pilots between different generations with minimal downtime. Using software augmentation to make different planes fly similarly to avoid retraining costs isn't anything new. For Airbus this goes much further. You can cross train from an A320 to an A330 in about a moth. And that is going from a narrow body to a wide body plane that is twice as big.

Boeing's handling was still subpar, but the main issue here were horribly trained flight crews. Two crews of Lion Air were unable to figure out basic procedures. A ride along saved the plane the first time. The crew failed to report the issue properly. The next day another crew took the same plane out, there was no ride along this time to help the crew and the plan crashed.

Boeing still handled it poorly with subpar documentation, but undeveloped countries put out crappy aviators.

Boeing also got in some hot water for their corner cutting on manufacturing and forcible silencing of workers who complained about the potential (and later verified) safety issues. Boeing dropped the ball and those with lesser training and fewer resources paid the price.

 

[Ducman69]

And they cut the pay year in year out.

Not if you're willing to move to China. Apparently they have a massive shortage of airline pilots, and are paying big money to try and scalp them from other airlines. $300K a year, end of contract bonus $80K, very low cost of living, tax free.

 

[Flogger23m]

Boeing also got in some hot water for their corner cutting on manufacturing and forcible silencing of workers who complained about the potential (and later verified) safety issues. Boeing dropped the ball and those with lesser training and fewer resources paid the price.

Their South Carolina facility had some notable QC issues on the 787s. KLM and Singapore were unhappy with the ones they received. Singapore received the first 787-10s and claimed the most recent deliveries were nothing like the original or what they were used to from Boeing. Essentially, work lights left in the planes, some dented panels, scratched windows.

So Boeing isn't free of faults, but the primary factor in the two crashes were lack of training. Still, planes should be designed for the worst of the worst. Historically airline pilots were accomplished aviators. This is becoming less true, and in a country like Indonesia or Nigeria, there are not many opportunities to find a seasoned aviator. So Boeing does need to keep in mind there are going to be more people with exaggerated paper qualifications flying their planes.