Boeing said it would recommend simulator training for all pilots before the MAX returns to service.
Washington / Chicago:
Two senior Boeing Co executives who oversaw the development of the 737 MAX defended the company’s decisions on a key cockpit system later linked to two fatal crashes, according to testimony to Congressional investigators seen by Reuters.
Michael Teal, then chief 737 MAX product engineer, and Keith Leverkuhn, who was vice president and general manager of the 737 MAX program, were interviewed separately by investigators from the US House of States Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. United in May.
“I do not consider the development of the plane to be a failure,” Leverkuhn told investigators on the House panel which is due to issue a final report next week on its investigation into the development of the plane, which has been grounded since March. 2019 after two accidents. killed 346 people.
Leverkuhn defended the decision to tie a new safety system on the MAX, called MCAS, to a single sensor that was involved in both fatal crashes. Boeing has since agreed to use data from two separate sensors when the plane returns to service, which could happen as early as this year.
“I think based on our understanding and assumptions about the actions of the flight crew, it was not a mistake,” Leverkuhn said.
Later in his testimony, Leverkuhn added: “It is clear that what was wrong were our assumptions regarding human-machine interaction. Because the process was based on the industry standard for pilot reaction to a particular failure. And what was clear after the accidents was that this assumption was incorrect. “
Congressional investigators also questioned testimony that Boeing had never performed internal financial analysis to determine whether the Federal Aviation Administration would require more expensive simulator training.
Teal said if the design of the 737 MAX warrants simulator training, Boeing would have created it, while acknowledging that customers might have been disappointed.
“Would airlines have been happy with that, of course they would not have been,” he said, noting that Boeing had always signaled that simulator training would not be necessary.
Last year, Boeing confirmed that it had agreed to pay Southwest Airlines Co a $ 1 million rebate from MAX if the training was required.
In January, Boeing reversed course and said it would recommend simulator training for all pilots before the MAX returns to service.
Teal, now chief engineer for the 777X project, said the aircraft manufacturer has since revised some of the pilot’s assumptions following the 737 MAX crashes. “It’s a learning that we are now putting forward on the new aircraft,” he said.
Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Wall Street Journal, which reported on the transcripts earlier, said Leverkuhn retired earlier this year as he had long planned, citing a Boeing spokesperson.
(This story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
