Four months before the first deadly crash of Boeing’s 737 Max, a senior manager approached an executive at the company with concerns that the plane was riddled with production problems and potentially unsafe. That manager, Ed Pierson, plans to tell his story to Congress on Wednesday. Employees at the Renton, Wash., factory where the Max is produced were overworked, exhausted and making mistakes, Pierson said. A cascade of damaged parts, missing tools and incomplete instructions was preventing planes from being built on time. Executives were pressuring workers to complete planes despite staff shortages and a chaotic factory floor. “Frankly right now all my internal warning bells are going off,” Pierson said in an email to the head of the 737 program in June 2018. “And for the first time in my life, I’m sorry to say that I’m hesitant about putting my family on a Boeing airplane.” Pierson, who is scheduled to testify at a House Transportation Committee hearing on the two 737 Max crashes, called on Boeing to shut down the Max production line last year. But the company kept producing planes and did not make major changes in response to his complaints. During the time when Pierson said the Renton facility was in disarray, it built the two planes that crashed and killed a total of 346 people. Pierson did not raise concerns about the new automated system, known as MCAS, which caused pilots on both doomed flights to lose control. He focused on the potential safety hazards resulting from production problems. Story has much more detail.<br/>
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Dozens of relatives of passengers who died in the second crash of a Boeing 737 Max say US regulators should expand their current review of the jet before it is allowed to fly again. Family members say that in focusing on a flight-control system implicated in the crashes, the FAA might miss other potential safety hazards on the plane. FAA Administrator Stephen Dickson is likely to be asked about the extent of the FAA's review of the plane when he appears before a House committee on Wednesday. Investigations into the crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia have pointed to a flight-control system called MCAS automatically pushing the noses of the planes down in response to faulty readings from a single sensor. The Max has been grounded worldwide while Boeing fixes the problems. The FAA is reviewing changes that Boeing is making to MCAS and a separate issue around flight-control computers, but some relatives of the passengers want a nose-to-tail review of every critical system on the plane. “That's a tombstone mentality” to focus only on MCAS, said Nadia Milleron, whose daughter died in the March 10 crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Max. “You don't just wait until people die to address (other) systems."<br/>
Sen. Chuck Schumer is calling on the FAA to complete its investigation into airline legroom and make changes. The FAA missed its deadline in October to deliver the results of the yearlong study. Schumer worries that without federal action, airlines could shrink seating even more and create safety issues. “The airlines are shoving people into these airplanes, like they’re in a can of sardines,” he said Sunday. “I am troubled by the inadequate testing procedures. I am trouble because the focus seems far too narrow.” The senator first raised concerns when it was found that some airline seats were as narrow as 16 inches. The FAA released a statement, saying it plans to conclude testing by the end of the year and will determine whether regulatory changes are needed. Story has more.<br/>
Armenia's civil aviation regulator has been placed under increased monitoring by European safety authorities as part of a revision of the EC airline blacklist. In its update the Commission has not specified the reasons for its concerns with the Armenian organisation. The revision has also lifted restrictions on carriers from Gabon, after the safety situation in the African state improved. New European transport commissioner Adina Valean says Gabon has been released after more than a decade on the blacklist. "It is very good that we can recognise the efforts the aviation safety authorities in Gabon have made," she adds. Fifteen states remain subject to a blanket ban, along with six individual airlines, while three other carriers are under partial restrictions.<br/>
Two investment funds held by infrastructure investor Macquarie have divested a 36% stake in Brussels Airport to a consortium formed by Dutch pension fund APG, Australian investor Queensland Investment Corp. and insurance company Swiss Life. Brussels Airport said the deal was officially completed Dec. 4, building on an agreement that was originally announced in March, with planned closure by year-end 2019. The two Macquarie investing funds—MEIF1 and MEIF3—had reached the end of their 15-year investment term. “On Dec. 4, the sale of the stake held by the two Macquarie investment funds in Brussels Airport to a consortium formed by APG, QIC and Swiss Life was finalized. This [past] Friday [Dec. 6], a fourth shareholder, Sky Holding Belgium Fund, managed by the investment company PMV, has joined the consortium,” Brussels Airport said.<br/>