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Boeing’s grounded 737 Max jets ‘set for extra cockpit safety alarms’ in wake of Ethiopia crash

Boeing will reportedly install extra safety alarms in the cockpits of all its 737 Max planes after the model suffered its second fatal in five months earlier this month.

The 737 Max range, Boeing’s new flagship plane designed to be a mainstay for decades to come, has been grounded by authorities across the globe after an Ethiopian Airlines jet crashed on 10 March, killing 157 people. Regulators fear the two incidents were linked via an operational defect.

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The plane maker will include a warning light in the new 737 Max planes and retrofit all existing ones, said the Financial Times. The light will tell pilots if two key sensors do not agree a person familiar with the situation told the paper.

Boeing shares haves lost billions of dollars in value in the aftermath of the crash earlier this month, which followed a similar 737 Max crash in Indonesia in October, which killed 189 people.

It has also emerged the captain of the doomed Ethiopian Airlines flight had not had a chance to practise on the airline’s simulator for the new model before the crash.

Captain Yared Getachew, 29, was scheduled to take a refresher course at the end of March, a colleague told Reuters, two months after the company had received the simulator.

The Max range came into service two years ago with a new automated system called Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS). It is intended to prevent the loss of life, which can result in an aerodynamic stall, sending the plane’s nose downwards.

“Boeing did not send manuals on MCAS,” said the Ethiopian Airlines pilot, who wished to remain anonymous.

“Actually we know more about the MCAS system from the media than from Boeing.”

But Ethiopian airlines has hit back at the claim.

The company said today its pilots had completed the training recommended by Boeing – and approved by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) – which outlined differences between the 737 Max range and its predecessor.

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They also received a briefing on the emergency directive which followed the Indonesia crash, which was incorporated into manuals and procedures, it said in a tweet.