Is Boeing 737 Max now safe? Absolutely not according to insiders. A shocking report revealed today alleges Boeing was aware of safety concerns years before several hundreds of passengers had to die on their Boeing 737 Max. Boeing is in trouble. Airbus is booming. Boeing shares are going down. Airbus shares are going up.
The public perception: Airbus means quality and safety. Boeing is associated with corporate greed and safety as an option. Boeing misleading authorities may have caused hundreds of lives, Ethiopian Airlines its reputation, and may send some people to jail.
A Boeing pilot working on the 737 Max said in messages from 2016 that a new automated system was making the plane difficult to control in flight simulators – more than 2 years before it was grounded after 2 deadly crashes. Boeing was aware of troubling instant messages between 2 employees regarding their communications with federal regulators over its now-grounded 737 Max jet, but the company waited months to disclose them, according to media reports by the New York Times and Reuters.
The pilot, Mark Forkner, complained that the system, known as MCAS, was causing him trouble. “It’s running rampant in the sim,” he said in a message to a colleague, referring to the simulator.
Reuters reported: Boeing turned over instant messages from 2016 between 2 employees that suggest the airplane maker may have misled the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about a key safety system on the grounded 737 MAX, according to documents seen by Reuters.
The FAA confirmed Friday that Boeing told it a day earlier about internal messages it had discovered “some months ago” that characterize “certain communications with the FAA during the original certification of the 737 MAX in 2016.”
The FAA said it found the messages “concerning” and “is reviewing this information to determine what action is appropriate.” It prompted a letter from FAA Administrator Steve Dickson to Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg demanding an “immediate” explanation for the delay in turning over the documents.
A person briefed on the matter said Boeing failed to turn over the documents to the FAA for 4 months and that the Justice Department is also in possession of the messages.
The messages are between the MAX’s then-chief technical pilot, Mark Forkner, and another Boeing pilot and raised questions about the MCAS’ performance in the simulator in which he said it was “running rampant.”
Forkner has since left Boeing. The Seattle Times reported in September that Forkner repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right to not turn over documents subpoenaed by the Justice Department
Earlier this week, Southwest Airlines delayed the return of the plane to its flight schedule until February.
