Pilots Trained For Boeing Model With Online Course

CNN reports:

Pilots transitioning to the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft from older 737 models were given a short, self-administered online course that made no mention of a new system now at the center of two crash investigations, pilots’ unions spokesmen for two American carriers told CNN.

“The course was not instructor-led. It was self-administered,” said Mike Trevino, a spokesman for the union that represents pilots of Southwest Airlines. The set course took pilots approximately three hours to complete, Trevino said.

“This is ridiculous,” said Captain Dennis Tajer, a representative of the Allied Pilots Association, which represents 15,000 American Airlines pilots. “If you’re going to have equipment on the airplane that we didn’t know about, and we’re going to be responsible for battling it if it fails, then we need to have hands-on experience.”

Tajer says he completed his own training on his iPad.