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| Family members of those who died aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 hold photographs of their loved ones as Dennis Muilenburg (R), president and CEO of the Boeing Company, testifies before the Senate Commerce Committee (AFP Photo/WIN MCNAMEE) |
Washington (AFP) - Boeing chief executive Dennis Muilenburg faced a barrage of criticism from US lawmakers Tuesday at a jammed hearing on the company's commitment to safety as family members of victims of two deadly MAX 737 crashes looked on.
In his
first appearance before Congress since the 737 MAX was grounded in March,
Muilenburg apologized for the crashes and acknowledged shortcomings, but
broadly defended Boeing's development of the ill-fated aircraft.
Senators
from both parties signaled clear dissatisfaction, bordering on rage in some
cases.
"Boeing
is the company that built the flying fortress that saved Europe," said
Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth, a former National Guard helicopter pilot
who lost both legs during the Iraq War.
"You
have told this committee and you told me half-truths over and over again,"
said Duckworth, who represents Illinois, home to Boeing's corporate
headquarters. "You have not told us the whole truth and these families are
suffering because of it."
Muilenburg
stuck to the company's longstanding stance that development of the MAX followed
time-tested company procedures and defended it against charges that it cut
corners on safety and was too cozy with regulators the Federal Aviation
Administration.
Many
analysts view the hearings as a can't-win situation for Muilenburg and expect
him to exit the company in the foreseeable future, most likely after the MAX
returns to service.
Asked by a
reporter if he would resign, Muilenburg said, "That's not where my focus
is. My focus is on the job at hand focused on safety. And we're going to do
everything we can to ensure safe flight."
But Nadia
Milleron, who lost her daughter on the Ethiopian Airlines crash, said the
company needs a shakeup.
Muilenburg
"needs to resign. The whole board needs to resign," she said. "I
expect him to stop putting the blame on the FAA and other people because that
is what they always do. They don't take responsibility."
 |
Boeing
president and CEO, Dennis Muilenburg arrives at a Senate hearing
on the 737 MAX
after two deadly crashes (AFP Photo/MANDEL NGAN)
|
Passing
the buck?
Many of the
questions focused on the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, an
automated system that Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines pilots were unable to
control, resulting in crashes.
"We
have learned from both accidents and we've identified changes that need to be
made to MCAS," Muilenburg told the Senate Commerce Committee.
But Senator
Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, lambasted Muilenburg as he struggled to answer
pointed questions about 2016 texts from Boeing pilot Mark Forkner to a
colleague that discussed the "egregious" performance of the MCAS
during a simulation test and said that he "basically lied to the
regulators."
Muilenburg
indicated that Boeing counsel shared the documents with the Justice Department
in February, but that he did not see the specific exchange until it was
reported by news media earlier this month.
"I was
made aware of existence of this kind of document," Muilenburg told Cruz.
"I counted on counsel to handle this appropriately."
"That
is passive voice," Cruz shot back. "You're the CEO, the buck stops
with you.
"How
did your team not put it in front of you, run with their hair on fire and say
'We have a real problem here?' How did that not happen and what does that say
about the culture at Boeing?"
Senator
Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington state where the 737 MAX is built,
said the crisis showed that Boeing leadership was failing its employees.
"This
isn't a question about line workers -- this is a question about the corporate
view from Chicago, and whether there is enough attention to manufacturing and
certification," Cantwell said. "You should take offense to the fact
that people say, 'It's a great company that's not being run correctly.'"
Tuesday's
hearing will be followed by a second session on Wednesday in the House
Transportation Committee.
Boeing is
still targeting regulatory approval for the MAX in 2019, a timeframe that many
aviation experts still view as possible.
Senator
Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican who chairs the Senate committee, told
CNBC before the hearing that he intends to scrutinize Boeing's processes but
said he did not see anything that would prevent the MAX from going back into
service "fairly soon."
"I
think this plane is eminently fixable," Wicker told CNBC. "I don't
think it's a hopeless cause."
Grieving relatives tossed flowers into the sea where an Indonesia Lion Air jet crashed a year ago, killing 189 on board, after a final accident report pointed to plane design flaws as a key factor in the disaster https://t.co/vS5zwfwglo— AFP news agency (@AFP) 29 oktober 2019
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