'Sully' Sullenberger Among The Pilots Testifying Before The House Aviation Subcommittee

The U.S. House Transportation Aviation Subcommittee held a hearing Wednesday looking into two accidents involving Boeing's 737 MAX airplane which resulted in the fatal injury of a total of 346 people.

Among those offering testimony was Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, who famously ditched an Airbus A320 in the Hudson River in January, 2009. Sullenberger said the design of the 737 MAX allowed for a single point of failure that could lead to "cascading effects" which could confuse and overwhelm pilots. "We should design aircraft for them to fly that do not have inadvertent traps set for them," Sullenberger said.

Daniel Carey, the president of the Allied Pilots Association, also referenced the single point of failure aspect of the MCAS system on the airplane. In an APA release prior to his appearance before the committee, Carey said "The huge error of omission is that Boeing failed to disclose the existence of MCAS to the pilot community,” Capt. Carey states. “The final fatal mistake was, therefore, the absence of robust pilot training in the event that the MCAS failed.

“With regard to the public policy issues generated by the fatal MAX crashes, the foremost and most urgent, in my view, is assessment of the adequacy of the FAA aircraft certification process,” Capt. Carey said.

CNN reports that some Republican committee members questioned the ICAO standards for pilot training when compared to U.S. standards, and Rep Sam Graves (R-MO) said that the committee should not arrive at predetermined conclusions about what caused the accidents. Still, he said there are some concerns that the committee should address. "In reading the preliminary accident reports I, as well as, obviously, many others with a lot of flying experience, many have also raised concerns with the pilot training, with pilot experience, with aircraft maintenance and definitely with airline operations. All of these issues have to be investigated," Graves said.

The FAA is currently preparing for certification flights for updated software for the MCAS, which may begin as soon as the next two weeks. A source told CNN that the certification process is expected to take a month to six weeks, and if they are approved, the FAA may clear the 737 MAX to return to service in the U.S. in September.

(Image from file)

FMI: Source report