Massachusetts

Simulating What Can Go Wrong on a Boeing 737 Max

The U.S. and dozens of other countries have grounded Boeing 737 Max aircraft following the deaths of 157 people on an Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed. A Massachusetts flight instructor shows people how to fly the planes and what can go wrong.

Josh Haddad teaches people how to fly around the world in a Boeing 737. But he doesn't fly real plane; he flies a flight simulator in a Canton office building.

The full-size cockpit mock-up is similar to the one in the 737 Max that crashed in Ethiopia on Sunday.

It's still unclear what caused that deadly crash, but another deadly crash involving the same plane model happened near Indonesia in October.

In that case, officials said faulty sensors pointed the plane's nose down.

Haddad, a flight instructor at Global Flight Adventures, simulated a similar kind of emergency, and corrected the issue in seconds.

"I have a warning sound alerting me to the fact that autopilot is disengaged," he said. "I can shut that off with a second press, and now I've regained manual control of the aircraft, where I can pitch up."

He said while helpful, automation doesn't replace a skilled pilot.

"Computers think logically, and they're programmed by engineers," he said. "They're not so good at dealing with one-off situations."

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