Author Says Blame Should Be Placed On The Pilots, Not The Airplane

In a report published last Wednesday in the New York Times magazine, the author of the piece says blame for two accidents involving the Boeing 737 MAX should rest with the pilots, not the airplane itself.

Business Insider reports that, according to NYT "Writer at Large" William Langewiesche says the demand for low-cost air travel has led airlines to press inexperienced pilots into service in the airplane. He says Lion Air in particular is known for hiring inexperienced pilots, "most of them recent graduates of its own academy, and for paying them little and working them hard."

Langewiesche says that 31-year-old Bhavye Suneja, who was the pilot of the Lion Air 737 MAX that went down in Indonesia was placed in command of the Boeing 737 faster than he might have been at a "more conventional" airline.

He also reported that the copilot of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, which went down March 10, had just 200 hours of flight experience.

Langewiesche is a former pilot. He said that an in-depth analysis of the pilots' actions showed "a textbook failure of airmanship."

(Image from file)

FMI: Source report