New York, .- The American Airlines pilots demanded last November Boeing executives to work urgently on a solution in the model 737 Max after a first incident in Indonesia and, thus, before the then would happen in March in Ethiopia , according to The New York Times.
In a closed-door meeting, the company’s pilots even argued that Boeing should pressure the aeronautical authorities to take an emergency measure, even if it meant the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max models.
Boeing executives resisted, according to Times sources, who argued that they did not want to rush a solution and said they hoped the pilots could handle the devices without problems.
Mike Sinnett, vice president of Boeing, acknowledged however that the manufacturer was evaluating possible design flaws in the aircraft, including new software, but resisted adopting a more forceful approach arguing that it was not yet clear that the new system was the culprit of the Lion Air accident, which killed 189 people last March.
“No one has yet to conclude that the only cause of this was this function on the plane,” Sinnett said of the anti-lock system software, according to a recording of the Nov. 27 meeting reviewed by The New York Times.
Less than four months later, an Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed, killing the 157 people on board. The defective anti-blocking system played a role in both disasters, according to investigations by the authorities.
The accidents of the 610 flights of Lion Air, in October of 2018, and of the 302 of Ethiopian, this past March, have caused a crisis in the aeronautical company, which has interrupted the deliveries of the 737 MAX aircraft, vetoed in the air spaces of practically everyone and that has altered the operations of numerous airlines.
Boeing is finalizing a package of improvements that includes a software update for this range of aircraft and has yet to be approved by the authorities, in an effort to “return the 737 MAX to service and regain the trust of customers, regulators and the people that flies “, indicated the company. (EFEUSA)
