Boeing steps up airline outreach on 737 Max after Lion Air crash

Boeing is trying to assuage 737 Max customers concerned about a little-known anti-stall feature that has emerged as a focus of investigators probing a crash in Indonesia last month that killed 189 people. Southwest, the largest 737 Max operator, American Airlines and United are among the carriers globally pressing Boeing for details of the formerly obscure system, representatives of the airlines say. The aircraft manufacturer first disclosed the possible link to the Lion Air crash on Nov. 7 and has been working with the FAA to figure out the appropriate remedies, from updating software to improving pilot training. But as more becomes known about the feature, some US pilots flying the Boeing 737 Max seem increasingly confident that they are suitably trained to disable the automated trim system. Even so, leaders of the three US pilots unions continue to pressure the manufacturer and US regulators for more details about its design -- and why it was omitted from pilots’ flight operating manuals. Before the Oct. 29 crash near Jakarta, Boeing hadn’t widely disclosed that the so-called Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System would, in limited circumstances, lower the jet’s nose without any input from pilots. The company in recent days has provided assurances that other crucial changes to the upgraded 737 weren’t similarly overshadowed.<br/>