Nuked Boeing employees discussed the problems with the 737 Max in chats and emails that the company described as’completely unacceptable’.’would you put your family on a max simulator trained aircraft? I would n’t,’ one employee said to another in one chat in February 2018.
A Boeing employee appears to be referring to interactions with the Federal Aviation Administration.’I still have n’t been forgiven by God for the covering up I did last year,’ he said.
The messages show how Boeing tried to reduce the amount of training required by the FAA to certify pilots for the 737 Max. Pilots were unprepared to deal with the fatal flaw that brought down two 737 Max planes in five months, killing 346 people.
The communications’raises questions about Boeing’s interactions with the FAA in connection with the simulator qualification process,’ Boeing said in its statement.
The FAA has reviewed the most recent 737 max-related documents submitted by Boeing for the purpose of identifying any safety implications.’our experts determined that nothing in the submission pointed to any safety risks that were not already identified as part of the ongoing review of proposed modifications to the aircraft,’ the agency said.
Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, said the emails were’astonishing & appalling’.’action & accountability are long overdue’.
The Boeing 737 Max was the most recent update to the 737. Boeing’s main rival Airbus had developed the A320neo. Pilots were not properly trained or even made aware of a piece of software.
The CEO technical pilot of the 737 program, whose name is redacted, said in a 2017 email that’we’ll go face to face with any regulator who tries to make that a requirement’.
A series of emails between the chief technical pilot and an undisclosed airline show how aggressive the company was in trying to limit the amount of simulator work Boeing does not understand what is to be gained by a 3 hour simulator session.
The chief technical pilot emailed another unnamed Boeing employee and said:’these are not the droids you’re looking for…’.
‘go to show what a little bit a [ sic ] accurate info can do to sway an operator in the right direction…’.
Boeing’s effort to reduce the amount of simulator training was ultimately successful. Not all employees were on board with the idea, according to the newly-disclosed documents.
Boeing reversed course and announced it will recommend training for the 737 Max. The company indefinitely halted production of the plane in January, and the FAA has still not certified it to fly again.
