Safety experts recommended Wednesday that airlines develop realistic training to prepare their pilots to deal with smoke filling the cockpit, like what happened on a Southwest Airlines plane after a bird strike.
The National Transportation Safety Board said the pilots who safely landed that plane back in New Orleans told investigators the situation was far more challenging than anything they had ever experienced in training.
“If such an event occurred at night or in instrument meteorological conditions, the consequences could be catastrophic,” the NTSB determined.
The Federal Aviation Administration receives reports of smoke in the cockpit almost daily, but the NTSB said the agency still doesn't require airlines to conduct realistic smoke-in-cockpit simulations. Instead, the training usually just consists of a discussion of what to do in that situation. The FAA didn't immediately respond to the new recommendation on Wednesday.
The Southwest pilots at the controls during this incident in December 2023 said they had trouble seeing their instruments and checklists. They quickly donned oxygen masks and followed emergency procedures to land. None of the 139 people aboard were hurt. In a separate incident nine months earlier involving another Southwest 737 Max, smoke filled the cabin after a bird strike after takeoff in Havana, Cuba.
Aviation safety expert Steve Arroyo, who was a pilot for United Airlines, said it is crucial that pilots are prepared to deal with smoke and quickly shut off the valve letting it into the cockpit, so he supports the recommendation. He said it would be good for pilots to experience dealing with smoke every time they go back for refresher training every nine months, so they’ll have the “muscle memory” to respond.
“Smoke in the cockpit is a very serious and time-critical emergency,” Arroyo said. “And I think creating the pilot awareness through real-life training is essential to reducing this potential safety threat.”
Southwest spokesman Lynn Lunsford said the airline is reviewing the new recommendation, but it is committed to ensuring its pilots can handle these kinds of emergencies and seeing that the underlying flaw in the engines on the 737 Max is fixed.
“Southwest routinely evaluates and enhances pilot training as part of its robust Safety Management System. As part of that effort, Southwest notified its Flight Crews about the effects of certain malfunctions following the two events in 2023 and reiterated the importance of following established safety procedures that are part of the company’s pilot training program,” Lunsford said in a statement.
The Airlines for America trade group didn't immediately respond to the new report.
Last year, the NTSB urged Boeing and engine maker CFM International to quickly develop a software fix for the engines on the 737 Max to help prevent smoke from filling the cockpit or cabin after a safety feature is activated following a bird strike.
Spokesman for the engine and plane makers said the software fix for the engines is still being developed.
Air from the left engine on a 737 Max flows directly into the cockpit, while air from the right engine flows into the passenger cabin.
A safety device CFM added to these engines to help limit damage after a bird strike had the unintended consequence of contributing to smoke inside the plane. The device releases oil after a bird strike, which generates a significant amount of smoke.
Both Boeing and CFM have said they are committed to addressing the engine issue, and the FAA said last year that the repair will be required as soon as it is ready.