Ground crew chat near a Boeing 737 MAX 8 parked on tarmac in China. Governments of China, the United Kingdom, Australia, Indonesia and other countries grounded 737 Max 8's in their airspace in response to the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines flight last weekend. | AP Photo White House Trump bashes airplane tech after Boeing crash: ‘I don’t want Albert Einstein to be my pilot’

President Donald Trump on Tuesday complained that modern planes are becoming too complicated for pilots, as countries around the world ground the Boeing 737 Max 8 after a deadly crash in Ethiopia.

"Airplanes are becoming far too complex to fly. Pilots are no longer needed, but rather computer scientists from MIT. 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," Trump wrote on Twitter.


He continued: "Split second decisions are....needed, and the complexity creates danger. All of this for great cost yet very little gain. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want Albert Einstein to be my pilot. I want great flying professionals that are allowed to easily and quickly take control of a plane!"

The tweet comes shortly after the governments of China, the United Kingdom, Australia, Indonesia and other countries grounded 737 Max 8's in their airspace in response to the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines flight last weekend. The European Union grounded the planes shortly after on Tuesday.

Another 737 Max 8 crashed in Indonesia in October, raising concerns about the plane's safety. The 737 family is one of Boeing's most popular planes with a strong safety record, but the Max 8 has raised concerns for possibly barring pilots from overpowering automated functions.

Several U.S. carriers have maintained the plane is safe and continue to use it on hundreds of flights a day without incident. But that hasn't stopped lawmakers including Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah) from calling for a grounding.

"Out of an abundance of caution for the flying public, the @FAANews should ground the 737 MAX 8 until we investigate the causes of recent crashes and ensure the plane’s airworthiness,"Romney tweeted Tuesday.

Presidential hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) shared a similar sentiment. "While we do not know the causes of these crashes, serious questions have been raised about whether these planes were pressed into service without additional pilot training in order to save money," Warren said in a statement.

Trump has a history of offering his opinion on the aviation industry — though his experience is largely limited to launching a failed airline in 1989. While christening Trump Shuttle, Trump scandalized business executives by claiming Pan Am had a poor and negligent safety record — a below-the-belt move in the airline industry, The Boston Globe reported.

Trump also claimed early last year that his administration had a hand in improving aviation safety.

“Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation,” Trump tweeted in January 2018. “Good news - it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!”

The tweet referred to reports that there were no deaths related to passenger jets in 2017, but did not mention the deaths related to cargo and non-jet aircraft. It also glossed over the fact that the U.S. had gone years without a single jet passenger death going back to 2009.

