bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Associated Press

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg faced withering questions from US senators on Tuesday about two crashes of 737 MAX aircraft and whether the company concealed information about a critical flight system.
“We have made mistakes, and we got some things wrong,” Muilenburg conceded.
Some members of the Senate Commerce Committee cut Muilenburg off when they believed he was failing to answer their questions about a key flight-control system implicated in both crashes.
Boeing successfully lobbied regulators to keep any explanation of the system, called MCAS, from pilot manuals and training. After the crashes, the company tried to blame the pilots, said Senator Richard Blumenthal.




“Those pilots never had a chance,” Blumenthal said. Passengers “never had a chance. They were in flying coffins as a result of Boeing deciding that it was going to conceal MCAS from the pilots.”
Senator Tammy Duckworth said Boeing “set those pilots up for failure” by not telling them how the response to a nose-down command on the MAX differed from previous 737s.
“Boeing has not told the whole truth to this committee and to the families and to the people looking at this … and these families are suffering because of it,” a visibly angry Duckworth said as she pointed to relatives of passengers who died.
Muilenburg denied that Boeing ever blamed the pilots. Several times this spring and summer he said the accidents were caused by a “chain of events”, not a single factor. The comments were widely seen as deflecting blame, including to the pilots.
Indonesia marks anniversary of deadly Lion Air crash
The CEO told senators on Tuesday that Boeing has always trained pilots to respond to the same effect caused by an MCAS failure – a condition called runaway trim – which can be caused by other problems.
Muilenburg and Boeing’s chief engineer for commercial aeroplanes, John Hamilton, spent about 80 minutes at the witness table. The committee then heard from two safety officials who helped shape reports about the Boeing plane.
The hearing took place exactly one year after a 737 MAX crashed off the coast of Indonesia and more than seven months after a second crash in Ethiopia. In all, 346 people died. Muilenburg’s testimony was the first by a Boeing executive since the crashes. The CEO is expected to testify before a House committee on Wednesday.
Indonesian investigators say Boeing’s design of MCAS contributed to the crash of a Lion Air MAX last October. Ethiopian authorities are continuing to investigate the second crash, involving a plane flown by Ethiopian Airlines, which led to a worldwide grounding of the plane.




“Both of these accidents were entirely preventable,” said Committee Chairman Roger Wicker.
More than a dozen relatives of passengers who died in the accidents attended the hearing. Wicker invited them to stand and hold up large photos of their relatives, which they had carried into the room. Muilenburg turned in his seat to look at them.
In Indonesia, the CEO of Lion Air vowed on Tuesday to follow recommendations from a probe into the disaster. Relatives of victims scattered flowers on waters where the aircraft went down a year ago.
Muilenburg told senators that Boeing is in the final stages of updating flight software to improve safety by adding redundancy – tying MCAS to a second sensor and second computer at all times, and making the system’s ability to push a plane’s nose down less powerful.
Boeing’s global 737 MAX crisis to cost company US$5.6 billion
Chicago-based Boeing hopes to win Federal Aviation Administration approval by year end to return the plane to flight. The FAA is also coming under scrutiny for relying on Boeing employees to perform some certification tests and inspections. It’s an approach FAA has followed for many years.
“We need to know if Boeing and the FAA rushed to certify the MAX,” Wicker said.
The committee did not get an answer to that question. Senator Jon Tester indicated he would not wait for one, accusing Boeing of cutting corners on safety.
“I would walk before I was to get on a 737 MAX,” Tester told Muilenburg. “When issues like this happen, it costs your company huge.”

Other senators seized on internal messages and emails from 2016 by a senior Boeing test pilot, who reported “egregious” problems while testing MCAS on a flight simulator and said he “unknowingly” lied to regulators. Boeing turned over the messages to the Justice Department early this year but did not tell the FAA or Congress until this month.
Muilenburg said Boeing has not been able to question the test pilot, who now works for Southwest Airlines, “and we’re not quite sure” what he meant in the messages. The CEO noted that the man’s lawyer said he was describing problems with a simulator, not MCAS itself.
“That could be the case,” Muilenburg said. “We don’t know.”
When will grounded Boeing 737 MAX be back in the air?
Senator Ron Johnson asked why Boeing did not ground the plane immediately after the first accident, when it knew that MCAS was involved. Why did it take another crash?
“We have asked that question over and over,” Muilenburg said.
“If we knew everything back then that we know now, we would have made a different decision.”


Trump-Xi summit: US trade chief casts doubt on pre-meeting Beijing visit

Unfinished business: the delay of Trump’s China visit

Iran targets Bahrain aluminium, 2 injured amid Hormuz closure

Air China subsidiary to lease 10 Boeing jets in deals worth about US$400 million

Boeing

US senators grill Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg over 737 MAX crashes, calling the planes ‘flying coffins’

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg pauses while speaking before a Senate committee on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Family members arrive with photos of those killed in Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 and Lion Air Flight 610 before a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing on 'Aviation Safety and the Future of Boeing's 737 MAX' on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Indonesia’s Lion Air crash report calls for redesign of Boeing 737 MAX, better training for pilots

Lion Air investigators examine parts of the ill-fated Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet that crashed into the sea, killing all those on board. Photo: AFP

FILE - In this Oct. 31, 2018, file photo, a rescuer inspects parts of Lion Air Flight 610 retrieved from the waters off Java Island where the plane was crashed at Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta, Indonesia. Investigators of the Oct. 29 crash say that the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft was deemed airworthy when it made its final takeoff from Jakarta. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana, File)

A grounded Lion Air Boeing Co. 737 Max 8 aircraft sits on the tarmac at terminal 1 of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Cenkareng, Indonesia, on Tuesday, March 15, 2019. Sunday's loss of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737, in which 157 people died, bore similarities to the Oct. 29 crash of another Boeing 737 Max plane, operated by Indonesia's Lion Air, stoking concern that a feature meant to make the upgraded Max safer than earlier planes has actually made it harder to fly. Photographer: Dimas Ardian/Bloomberg

Epi Samsul Komar, 52, a relative of a victim of crashed Lion Air flight JT610 reacts as he speaks to reporters after Indonesian investigators told victims' families mechanical and design issues contributed to the crash of the 737 MAX jet last year, in Jakarta, Indonesia, October 23, 2019. REUTERS/Sekar Nasly NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

Boeing expresses regret over release of ex-pilot’s damning messages about 737 MAX software linked to two fatal crashes

Boeing 737 MAX planes are parked on Boeing property near Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington. Photo: AFP

FILE PHOTO: An aerial photo shows Boeing 737 MAX aircraft at Boeing facilities at the Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake, Washington, September 16, 2019. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson/File Photo

FILE - In this April 29, 2019 file photo, Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg speaks during a news conference after the company's annual shareholders meeting at the Field Museum in Chicago. Boeing was aware of troubling instant messages between two employees regarding their communications with federal regulators over its now-grounded 737 Max jet, but the company waited months to disclose them. Federal Aviation Administration chief Steve Dickson demanded an explanation from Muilenburg in a letter Friday, Oct. 18.(AP Photo/Jim Young, Pool)

Indonesia Lion Air crash families will receive at least US$1.2 million each from Boeing, sources say

A Lion Air Boeing 737-800 aircraft is seen at the airport in Padang, West Sumatra. Photo: AFP

FILE - In this Nov. 4, 2018, file photo officials inspect an engine recovered the crashed Lion Air jet in Jakarta, Indonesia. Chicago law firm says it has settled lawsuits against Boeing on behalf of the families of 11 passengers killed in the crash of a Lion Air jet off the coast of Indonesia. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim, File)

(FILES) In this file photo taken on June 19, 2019 a Boeing Logo is seen in one of the Boeing's stands at the International Paris Air Show at Le Bourget Airport, near Paris. - Boeing has reached settlements with 11 families of victims from October's Lion Air crash, the first agreements following two deadly crashes that killed 346 people, a plaintiffs attorney said September 25, 2019. The Wisner Law Firm, which specializes in aviation cases, is also "optimistic" about reaching settlements on its remaining six cases for families affected by the crash in Indonesia, said attorney Alexandra Wisner. (Photo by ERIC PIERMONT / AFP)

FILE - In this April 10, 2019, file photo a Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplane rolls toward takeoff before a test flight at Boeing Field in Seattle. A Chicago law firm says it has settled lawsuits against Boeing on behalf of the families of 11 passengers killed in the crash of a Lion Air jet off the coast of Indonesia. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

News

World

United States & Canada


Lawmakers seek answers about whether aerospace giant concealed information about critical flight system
Families of victims in Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashes invited to hold up photos of relatives at hearing



Lawmakers seek answers about whether aerospace giant concealed information about critical flight system


Plane crashes and aviation accidents

Aviation

Transport and logistics

United States