Trump says planes are becoming 'far too complex to fly' after crash of Boeing jet in Ethiopia - CNBC

In the wake of the Boeing 737 Max 8 jet crash that killed 157 people in Ethiopia, President Donald Trump said Tuesday that airplanes are becoming "far too complex to fly."

"Pilots are no longer needed, but rather computer scientists from MIT," Trump wrote in a morning tweet. "I see it all the time in many products. Always seeking to go one unnecessary step further, when often old and simpler is far better."

The FAA said Monday it did not see a reason to ground Boeing 737 Max planes, though regulators around the world have stated to ground the planes.

The crash near Addis Ababa on Sunday marked the second time the Boeing plane has sustained a fatal crash in five months.

Boeing has said it is too early to tell the cause of the Sunday crash, though investigators are looking into whether the plane's automatic controls were responsible for the crash of the 737 Max in October that killed 189 people after the plane dove into the Java Sea in Indonesia. Both crashes occurred shortly after takeoff.

"I don't know about you, but I don't want Albert Einstein to be my pilot," Trump wrote in a second post on Twitter. "I want great flying professionals that are allowed to easily and quickly take control of a plane!"

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Regulators in China, Mexico, Indonesia, Australia and the United Kingdom have all grounded the aircraft. On Tuesday, a regulator in Vietnam said it would not license Boeing 737 Max aircraft in the country, according to Xinhua, a Chinese news agency. Companies in Vietnam had placed orders with Boeing to purchase the aircraft last month during Trump's summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi.

Boeing shares have fallen steeply as questions have mounted about the company's popular new jetliner. The company's shares were down 6 percent in morning trade on Tuesday.

Boeing said Monday a software update was in the works and would be ready by April. Boeing did not respond to a request for comment on the president's tweets Tuesday.

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March 12, 2019 at 09:58PM