Boeing Emails Reveal Possible Attempt To Manipulate Regulators Critical Of 737 Max Fleet
Federal investigations into Boeing’s 737 Max fleet continue following two deadly crashes that led to the deaths of 346 people. Amid the scrutiny, a new report from The Washington Post reveals internal Boeing documents that show employees discussing the manipulation of safety regulators who were examining the fleet to ensure it was approved for commercial flights.
“Yes, I still haven’t been forgiven by god for the covering up I did last year,” one employee wrote in a 2018 message.
“I know but this is what these regulators get when they try and get in the way. they impede progressw [sic],” another wrote in 2015.
In a 2017 message, an employee said the airplane was “designed by clowns” who were “supervised by monkeys.”
The documents were sent to congressional investigators that are examining how Boeing’s 737 Max jets were deemed safe by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Rep. Peter A. DeFazio, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said the documents “paint a deeply disturbing picture” of the efforts of Boeing to avoid scrutiny and regulation despite concerns voiced by the company’s own employees.
In some messages, employees argued over the simulator training requirement for flying the Max, which The Washington Post reports Boeing went to “great lengths” to prevent due to costs the customers would have to bear. In March of 2017, the chief technical pilot wrote to several of his colleagues to pressure them to continue vouching for the lack of a simulator training requirement.
“Boeing will not allow that to happen. We’ll go face to face with any regulator who tries to make that a requirement,” they wrote.
#Boeing Company releases hundreds of internal messages that contained harshly critical comments about the development of the 737 MAX, including one that said the plane was "designed by clowns who in turn are supervised by monkeys.” pic.twitter.com/G3CWVYC3Za
— Press TV (@PressTV) January 10, 2020
Boeing addressed the disturbing messages in a Thursday statement.
“These communications do not reflect the company we are and need to be, and they are completely unacceptable.”
According to Boeing, the company did not discover any “instances of misrepresentations” to the FAA as part of the simulator qualification process.
As The Inquisitr previously reported, some of the software development work for the Boeing 737 Max’s Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System — said to be linked to last October’s Lion air crash — was outsourced to engineers who were paid as little as $9 an hour.
The decision allegedly led to basic software mistakes, which are believed to be at least partly behind the two recent crashes. Many of the workers were reportedly from countries like India, including the Indian company, Cyient Ltd., and Indian software developer HCL Technologies Ltd.
Boeing also reportedly fired several senior engineers amid the development cycle, claiming they were no longer needed.
In response to the reports, Boeing denied relying on workers from HCL or Cyient for the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System and claimed its focus is on ensuring its products are “safe” and “of the highest quality,” Business Today reported.
