Ex-Boeing manager would ‘absolutely not’ fly 737 Max after cabin panel blowout
A former Boeing manager says he would “absolutely not” fly on one of its 737 Max planes as the aircraft maker faces heightened scrutiny after a cabin panel blowout. The section of an Alaska Airlines flight that blew out mid-flight earlier this month. The company has been fighting to reassure regulators, airlines and passengers since a brand-new 737 Max 9 jet was forced into an emergency landing last month. The dramatic incident during an Alaska Airlines flight – which prompted 171 Max 9 jets to be grounded for several weeks – has sparked the biggest safety crisis for Boeing since the crashes of two of its Max 8 jets, in 2018 and 2019, in which 346 people were killed. “I would absolutely not fly a Max airplane,” Ed Pierson, a former senior manager on Boeing’s 737 program, told the LA Times. “I’ve worked in the factory where they were built, and I saw the pressure employees were under to rush the planes out the door. I tried to get them to shut down before the first crash.” Pierson, who left Boeing in 2018 and is now executive director at the Foundation for Aviation Safety, expressed concern about the way in which regulators permitted the Max 9 to return to service last week. He told ABC7 San Francisco: “If you had a new car that had a part fall off of it and you had to pull over to the side of the road, and then you went to the shop, and the mechanic said, ‘Hey, I’m finding some other things wrong with it, but here you go, ready to go get out on the road,’ you would probably have some questions about [whether] anything else [has] been missed. So that’s a concern that we’ve had.”<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2024-02-02/general/ex-boeing-manager-would-2018absolutely-not2019-fly-737-max-after-cabin-panel-blowout
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Ex-Boeing manager would ‘absolutely not’ fly 737 Max after cabin panel blowout
A former Boeing manager says he would “absolutely not” fly on one of its 737 Max planes as the aircraft maker faces heightened scrutiny after a cabin panel blowout. The section of an Alaska Airlines flight that blew out mid-flight earlier this month. The company has been fighting to reassure regulators, airlines and passengers since a brand-new 737 Max 9 jet was forced into an emergency landing last month. The dramatic incident during an Alaska Airlines flight – which prompted 171 Max 9 jets to be grounded for several weeks – has sparked the biggest safety crisis for Boeing since the crashes of two of its Max 8 jets, in 2018 and 2019, in which 346 people were killed. “I would absolutely not fly a Max airplane,” Ed Pierson, a former senior manager on Boeing’s 737 program, told the LA Times. “I’ve worked in the factory where they were built, and I saw the pressure employees were under to rush the planes out the door. I tried to get them to shut down before the first crash.” Pierson, who left Boeing in 2018 and is now executive director at the Foundation for Aviation Safety, expressed concern about the way in which regulators permitted the Max 9 to return to service last week. He told ABC7 San Francisco: “If you had a new car that had a part fall off of it and you had to pull over to the side of the road, and then you went to the shop, and the mechanic said, ‘Hey, I’m finding some other things wrong with it, but here you go, ready to go get out on the road,’ you would probably have some questions about [whether] anything else [has] been missed. So that’s a concern that we’ve had.”<br/>
