One Boeing employee worried the 737 Max might be “vulnerable.” A company document said if pilots didn’t respond to a new automated system within seconds it would be “catastrophic.” A plan to include an alert for the system, known as MCAS, was considered but scrapped. The new revelations about how Boeing wrestled with the safety questions surrounding the new system on its best-selling plane came at a congressional hearing on Wednesday in Washington, adding to evidence that the company was aware of concerns about the plane’s safety before two crashes that left 346 people dead. Taken together with emails released this month showing that a top Boeing pilot was having trouble with the new system in the simulator before the plane was complete, the documents paint a fuller picture of Boeing employees’ developing and at times raising concerns about MCAS. The company, facing intense competitive pressure from its rival Airbus, ultimately determined the system was safe to install in the Max. And it continued to defend the safety of the plane after the accidents. The latest documents were made public at a hearing of the House transportation committee that lasted more than five hours. Committee members took turns grilling Boeing’s CE Dennis A. Muilenburg, interspersing calls for his resignation with slides depicting damning internal company documents questioning the safety of the automated system. In one partly redacted email from 2015, years before the plane was certified, a Boeing employee questioned whether the system was vulnerable to malfunctioning if a single sensor failed. Investigators believe that is what happened in both doomed flights. The new documents again raise the question of why Boeing installed MCAS in the Max after making it more powerful and less reliable. Story has more details of <br/>
general
After a contentious hearing where Boeing admitted mistakes and missed red flags about the safety of its 737 MAX jet, a mother whose daughter died in one of the crashes confronted CEO Dennis Muilenburg. "Go back to Iowa. Do that," said Nadia Milleron, referring to Muilenburg's story about his upbringing that he told the House Transportation Committee several times. "I don't feel like you understand," she continued. "It's come to the point where you're not the person anymore to solve the situation." Milleron's 24-year-old daughter Samya Rose Stumo was killed on Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 in March. That and a Lion Air crash last October together killed 346 people and led to regulators worldwide grounding the plane. Boeing continues to work on fixes for the jets, and currently says it expects the plane to be approved for commercial service later this year. In response, Muilenburg said he respects her viewpoint. "But I want to tell you the way I was brought up. And I'm just being honest here about it. I learned from my father in Iowa ... when things happen on your watch you have to own them and you have to take responsibility for fixing them," he said. Muilenburg told lawmakers that in hindsight, he wished the plane had been grounded sooner. "We've asked ourselves that question many, many times," he said. And if we knew back then what we know now, we would have grounded right after the first accident." Lawmakers used the hearing to probe a series of mistakes and safety concerns that Boeing missed. Some said the string of decisions showed a company that prioritized profits over safety and fostered a culture of performance pressure, both charges Muilenburg disputed. "I don't agree with that. Our business model is about safe airplanes," he said. "The reality is it's a competitive environment and the pressure to perform is there."<br/>
Workers at Denver International Airport handed out blankets and toiletries to about 800 passengers who were stuck there overnight because of a snowstorm. The airport cancelled 546 flights Tuesday and 725 flights were delayed, airport spokeswoman Emily Williams said. The National Weather Service said Wednesday morning that the airport got 7.7 inches of snow in 24 hours. Some areas around Denver received up to 12 inches. Denver International Airport got more than 7 inches of snow. The snow was tapering off Wednesday and flights were getting back to normal, airport spokeswoman Alex Renteria said. The airport did have to cancel 21 flights Wednesday and 171 were delayed by 15 minutes or more. Airport officials urged travelers to arrive two hours early if they had a flight Wednesday. The airport hopes the stranded passengers will be able to get flights Wednesday or Thursday, Renteria said.<br/>
Airbus cut its full-year delivery goal for commercial jets on Wednesday, as the planemaker struggles with production delays at a recently expanded German plant. The group expects to deliver “around 860” airliners in 2019 instead of the 880-890 previously targeted, the company said as it posted E1.6b in adjusted operating income for Q3. The adjusted operating profit figure rose 2% year-on-year as quarterly revenue fell 1% to E15.3b and net income rose 3% to 989m. The group also trimmed its 2019 free cash flow goal to reflect the revised delivery outlook. The revised delivery numbers and outlook “reflect the underlying actions to secure a more efficient delivery flow in the next years”, Chief Executive Guillaume Faury said. Airbus has been wrestling with delays at its Hamburg plant for close to two years as it increases output of the A321 ACF, a version of the jet whose modified fuselage allows for more flexible cabin layouts and extra fuel tanks for longer range. Aircraft demand remains solid in a challenging environment, Faury said - calling once again for a negotiated settlement to a transatlantic trade dispute that has hit European-built planes with 10% US tariffs, with Brussels poised to reciprocate.<br/>
India is planning to open 100 additional airports by 2024, as part of a plan to revive economic growth in Asia’s third-largest economy, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The proposal, which includes starting 1,000 new routes connecting smaller towns and villages, was discussed at a meeting last week to review infrastructure needed by 2025, the people said, asking not to be identified. Steps to start a plane-lease financing business in the country was also discussed, they said. With economic activity at a six-year low and prospects of further slowdown looming, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is keen to double down on infrastructure projects in a bid to revive growth and achieve a target of making India a $5 trillion economy by 2025. Last month, the govt cut corporate tax rates, putting India on par with some of the lowest in Asia, to help compete with the likes of Vietnam and Indonesia for investments amid global trade tensions. India’s plans to expedite airport development still trails that of China’s, which has set a goal of having 450 commercial airports by 2035, almost double the number at the end of 2018. A spokesman at India’s civil aviation ministry was not immediately available for a comment. The proposal by India’s state think tank also includes boosting the number of locally trained pilots to 600 a year and double the domestic aircraft fleet to 1,200 during the period, the people said.<br/>
London Gatwick airport is conducting a trial to find the most efficient sequence to seat passengers, in a bid to reduce boarding times by 10%. Modelling indicates that boarding passengers by methods such as back row to front and window seats first could result in significant time savings, says the airport. The two-month trial is taking place at Gatwick's Gate 101, where large digital screens and staff will show passengers the new processes. Several different seating combinations will be tested. Passengers who have booked priority boarding, require special assistance or are travelling with young families will still board first, the airport stresses. Abhi Chacko, head of enabling technologies at Gatwick, says early indications are that the new technique has the potential to reduce overall boarding time. "By communicating to passengers better and boarding passengers by seat number, we also expect to make the whole boarding experience more relaxing and, potentially, prevent large numbers of passenger rushing forward at any stage," he states.<br/>
An aircraft worker has been gouged in the eye by a falcon that lives in a Qantas Sydney airport hangar, creating what the union has called an “unsafe work environment”. Multiple peregrine falcons – including at least one small family – live, nest and hunt in the hangar. Falcons have been there for at least 20 years and have turned it into a “known roosting site”. But on Tuesday last week, one of the falcons attacked a worker, causing significant damage to his eyes, neck and face. The worker “may lose sight in one eye”, the Transport Workers Union said. The birds cannot be easily removed because they are a protected species, and Qantas has allowed them to stay because they keep mice, rats and pigeons away. An internal safety warning was issued by Qantas that confirmed the attack and told staff to wear safety goggles until the end of breeding season in November. “Maintain clearance from any falcon activity,” the warning said. “If you are swooped or observe the falcon, please report the location and activity observed.” Peregrine falcons are the world’s fastest animal and can swoop at speeds of up to 300km/h. According to the safety notice, the falcon “attacked the worker when they were in the vicinity of the falcon’s food source”.<br/>