New York, .- The top executive of Boeing, Dennis Muilenburg, recognized on Thursday the similarity between the technical failures that affected the 737 MAX aircraft accident in Ethiopia and Indonesia and the “high volume of work” that can face their pilots .
After the release of a preliminary report of the investigation of flight 302 of Ethiopian Airlines, Muilenburg said in a statement that “it is apparent that on both flights” the control system known as MCAS was activated in response to “wrong” information on the angle Of attack.
“As the pilots have told us, an erroneous activation of the MCAS function can add to an environment that already involves a heavy workload, it is our responsibility to eliminate this risk, we assume it and know how to do it,” he added.
The first investigations into the incident of a 737 MAX 8 in Ethiopia on March 10, which caused 157 deaths, show that the crew followed all safety procedures, but could not disable the automated control software that lowered the aircraft .
Failing to publish the final reports of the authorities with the “full details”, Muilenburg said that the history of the sector “shows that most accidents are caused by a chain of events” and “this is again the case”, but “We know how to break one of those links in the two accidents.”
The top executive of Boeing began by apologizing and offering his condolences to the victims of Flight 610 of Lion Air, which crashed in Indonesia last October, and Flight 302 of Ethiopian Airlines, whose “tragedies continue to weigh heavily” on the personnel of the aeronautical signature, which feels the “immense seriousness of the facts”.
After recognizing the similarity between the technical failures of the two flights, he insisted on the collaboration of his “best engineers and experts” with the Federal Aviation Administration since the accident in Indonesia to update the software and ensure that these incidents “never come back to happen”.
“We follow a broad and disciplined approach, taking the time to get the software update right, we are close to completing it and we anticipate that it will be certified and implemented in the global fleet of 737 MAX in the next few weeks,” said the executive. regretted the damage of its paralysis.
That software enhancement, plus its associated training and additional educational materials that the pilots have requested, “will eliminate the possibility of an unintentional activation of the MCAS and prevent an accident related to the MCAS from happening again,” he said.
Muilenburg reiterated that the 737 MAX is safe and that when it returns to fly including the changes in the software “will be one of the safest devices that have flown” ever, but acknowledged that “you can always be better” and expressed the “sense of duty “of the company.
The manager, who has been working for Boeing for three decades, said he does not remember a “more heartbreaking moment” in his career, adding that his staff’s work depends on lives, which requires “the highest integrity and excellence.”
“Together, we will do everything possible to win and regain that confidence of our customers and passengers in the coming weeks and months,” concluded the president and CEO, who just this Wednesday went on a test flight of the plane with the software improved that you plan to implement. (EFEUSA)
