Posted on 10/18/2019 10:43:13 AM PDT by Red Badger
KEY POINTS The FAA said Boeing withheld the messages between employees for months.
The incident ramps up pressure on Boeing and CEO Muilenburg about the planes. Boeing and the FAA are facing several investigations about the 737 Max’s design and certification.
Boeing shares slipped Friday after the Federal Aviation Administration said
Boeing withheld for months messages between employees from 2016 regarding the 737 Max’s certification from the regulator. The plane has been grounded since mid-March after two fatal crashes.
“The FAA is also disappointed that Boeing did not bring this document to our attention immediately upon its discovery,” the agency said, adding that it is “reviewing this information to determine what action is appropriate.”
Investigators in both crashes — a Lion Air 737 Max that went down in Indonesia in October 2018 and an Ethiopian Airlines plane of the same model that crashed in March — implicated flight-control software in both disasters, which killed 346 people.
A Boeing test pilot complained in the 2016 message that the system, known as MCAS, was difficult to control, the New York Times reported. Pilots at airlines including American complained after the crashes that it did not know about the system, known as MCAS, until after the first crash.
The FAA turned over the instant messages to U.S. lawmakers and the Department of Transportation Inspector General, the it said. The FAA says Boeing discovered the messages “some months ago” and the flight regulatory agency finds the document “concerning.” The FAA first certified the planes in 2017.
“Over the past several months, Boeing has been voluntarily cooperating with the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee’s investigation into the 737 MAX. As part of that cooperation, today we brought to the Committee’s attention a document containing statements by a former Boeing employee,” Boeing said in a statement.
Boeing shares were down more than 4% in midday trading, shaving 107 points off the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
The messages comes amid mounting pressure on Boeing and CEO Dennis Muilenburg. The company and the FAA are facing several investigations into the plane’s design and software.
The company’s board removed Muilenburg as chairman last week, saying the division of the two roles will help him focus on bringing the plane back to service. Muilenburg will face lawmakers for the first time since the crashes in a House transportation committee hearing scheduled for Oct. 30.
Boeing has developed a software fix for the software that misfired on the crashes but regulators haven’t yet signed off.
Ping
People need to be put in prison.
They may very well be...................
A Boeing test pilot complained in the 2016 message that the system, known as MCAS, was difficult to control, the New York Times reported.
...
More details would be nice, in spite of what the FR lynch mob says.
Cracks have been found in structurally sensitive areas.
This whole aircraft is a disaster waiting to happen again......................
IF that happens, They should be removed from the DOW .............................
More like the FR Boeing defense team! No clue where the blind gaga for Muhlenberg and the rest of his Deep State crew comes from.
This is not about defending or attacking Boeing, but its current leadership!
Those cracks are in a different series of the 737 which is older, not in the MAX.
And not just in the MAX planes, but only MAX is run on the ridiculous software. Other models have been having problems as of late. So far not life/death, or they’re caught in time.
Apparently the MCAS was just in the flight control software and was invisible to the pilots..........
Which makes it worse. Proving Boeing’s negligence isn’t just limited to one model. Their 777x has wing problems.
“Their 777x has wing problems. “
Please cite.
Correct, it was the immediate previous version........
1) Reuters explains why United Arab Emirates will not be ordering any 777X and goes into the failed safety tests, etc...
“Boeing suspended load testing of the new widebody in September when media reports said a cargo door failed a ground stress test. There have also been issues with General Electric Co’s (GE.N) new GE9X turbine engine that will power the jet.”
2) The wing issue is with the 737 sorry! “Boeing faces new 737 issue: Cracks in wing supports on popular NG version”
DUH!
I have said from day one, that you will find malfeasance, criminal malfeasance in the airworthy certification of the 737 Max-8 with the configuration of the 2 that crashed... This is just the tip of the iceberg.
There is ABSOLUTELY no way this configuration of the plane got certified for airworthiness without criminality.. NONE.
The Chairman of the FAA was supposed to test-fly the latest 737 MAX. Hope to hear from him.
I’d like to see him fly both a 737 MAX with and with without the modifications and give us his appraisal of each without knowing which plane he was flying.
However, it’s doubtful he would say publicly “I don’t see a problem” even if he doesn’t see a problem.
When the 737 MAX begins flying again it’ll be the safest plane in the sky.
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