Airlines accused of scrimping on pilot training

Airlines and aircraft manufacturers have been accused of investing only in ‘absolute minimum’ pilot training to keep down their costs.

The head of the UK’s Flight Safety Committee Dai Whittingham told the BBC that the industry has ‘less desire to provide training’.

His comments came after two plane crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, both of which involved the relatively new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft.

Whittingham told the BBC that ‘shareholders are squeezing airlines hard on costs. Spending on training fleets of captains and first officers is not necessarily welcome’, he said.

The BBC report suggested airlines sometimes opt to use online rather than cockpit training for pilots switching to a new version of an aircraft, such as the 737 MAX 8. It claimed that the minimum training for pilots to upgrade to the new model, established by Boeing, could be done purely online and required no time in a flight simulator.

However, Boeing told the broadcaster that safety was its ‘highest priority’ and the CAA said: “Safety is our number one priority and the UK has one of the world’s safest aviation industries. Commercial pilots undergo extensive training and testing and once qualified continue to be regularly checked and tested.”

Also, Ethiopia Airlines insists the pilots flying the MAX 8 that crashed shortly after take-off were trained in a simulator.

source: Travel Mole