Just over a year after the first crash of a Boeing 737 Max, the US aircraft manufacturer is getting more and more in trouble. The US aviation authority FAA announced on Wednesday investigations of manufacturing at the Airbus rival after a former Boeing manager had sharply criticized the production processes.
"I have experienced a factory in chaos," said the manager, Ed Pierson, at a hearing before US MEPs. Deadline pressure and the exhaustion of workers were at the expense of quality and safety. He himself, according to the whistleblower, had repeatedly informed the superiors in writing about his observations before the first crash. But the warnings had been ignored. He had reported problems again before the second accident, but none of his hints had made any difference.
Boeing is suspected of hastily launching the misfortune airplanes and neglecting safety. The company denies this, but has admitted errors in the 737 Max.
"The plane can still be so well designed, flown by the best engineers and the most gifted pilots," says Person. But all that does not help much, if you let an exhausted mechanic to the machine. Or an electrician who is stressed because he can not care about his family because of all the work. All this he observed with Boeing as a systematic problem.
The group is positive about its own reaction
Boeing countered that the Group had complied with security measures and software updates to the crash in October 2018 compliant. Barely five months later, a second 737 Max crashed in Ethiopia.
The hearing at a congressional committee also dealt with the role of the US aviation authority FAA. She is also heavily criticized for the approval of the 737 Max. FAA chief Steve Dickson defended the authority, but acknowledged that the very hesitant imposed flight ban for the 737 Max came too late from today's perspective.
After the hearing, the FAA said the 737 would not be allowed to take off before the end of the year. Nearly a dozen points are to be worked on before a new admission, said Dickson.
Boeing also threatened to pay fines if information on model problems was not disclosed in a timely manner. In the two crashes, a total of 346 people were killed.