SECRET recordings have revealed that the American pilots union confronted US aircraft manufacturer Boeing about the safety of their bestselling 737 Max 8 plane months before the same aircraft crashed in Ethiopia killing all 157 passengers and crew. The recordings were made of a closed door meeting in November between representatives of the Allied Pilots Association and Boeing executives where the pilots urged the company to take immediate action after the first fatal crash of the 737 Max 8 in Indonesia the previous month. This crash cost the lives of all 189 on board after the pilots could not regain control of the newly installed ‘stall prevention’ system (MCAS) which drove the plane straight into the ground. At this meeting the pilots’ demand for urgent changes to the plane’s MCAS was resisted by Boeing executives with Boeing vice-president Mike Sinnet saying that it was ‘unclear’ whether the anti-stall system was the sole cause of the Indonesian crash. One Boeing engineer would test the system while another Boeing engineer would act as the FAA representative and sign it off as compliant with federal safety regulations.