Indian budget carrier SpiceJet has removed 90 pilots from performing Boeing 737 MAX duties due to insufficient training on the type. India’s aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has ordered the carrier to stop these pilots from flying the MAX until they receive proper training.

Ninety pilots affected

SpiceJet has stopped 90 pilots from flying the 737 MAX aircraft after the DGCA found that they were not sufficiently trained on the simulator to fly the airplane after its recertification. According to a report by The Times of India, the affected pilots will not be allowed to operate the MAX airplane until the DGCA is satisfied with their training.

Given the lapses in preparing some pilots to fly the MAX aircraft, SpiceJet’s pilot training practices have also come under the radar of the country’s aviation regulator. As per ch-aviation, the carrier currently has 13 MAX airplanes in its fleet, of which 11 are on active duty.

However, SpiceJet says that the 60 MAX flights operated daily will not be affected as around 144 pilots are needed to fly the 11 airplanes, and the airline has more than 550 pilots trained on the type.

SpiceJet 737 MAX
SpiceJet has been operating at half its capacity for months now. Photo: Boeing

SpiceJet is the only Indian airline to fly the MAX airplanes and began retraining its pilots last year to fly the type again. Dates to reintroduce the MAX into commercial operations kept changing, and finally, in November 2021, the airline resumed passenger services of the aircraft with a flight between Delhi and Varanasi.

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Another round of training

The affected pilots underwent training at a facility in Noida, just outside of New Delhi. However, some crucial components of the training were not properly implemented for this particular batch.

According to people familiar with the matter, the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), which was developed by Boeing to enhance the pitch stability of the airplane, was not working properly on the simulator when these 90 pilots were being trained at the facility. The source also informs the TOI by adding,

“A part of this system, the ‘stick shaker’ that vibrates the control column and makes a loud noise when the jet risks losing lift, was also not working properly in the simulator at the time of training these pilots.”

The DGCA is expected to follow up on the training progress of the pilots before allowing them to operate the MAX again.

The 737 MAX in India

After years of being sidetracked by Airbus in India’s robust domestic market, Boeing managed to dent the European planemaker’s monopoly slightly by bagging an order from India’s startup airline Akasa last year at the Dubai Airshow.

With Akasa’s order of 72 MAX planes, valued at nearly $9 billion at list price, and SpiceJet’s outstanding order of 142 planes, Boeing now has more than 200 confirmed orders for the type from India.

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Source: The Times of India