Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg has said “it’s apparent” that the 737 MAX 8’s MCAS maneuvering system contributed to two fatal air accidents. Investigators had long suspected the system’s role in the disasters.
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 plunged into a field shortly after takeoff in March, killing all 157 people on board. Indonesian Lion Air Flight 610 nosedived into the sea last October, killing all 189 passengers and crew. Investigators noted “clear similarities” between both accidents.
“The full details of what happened in the two accidents will be issued by the government authorities in the final reports,” Muilenburg said in a video posted Thursday. “It’s apparent that in both flights the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, known as MCAS, activated in response to [the] erroneous angle of attack information,” he continued.
We at Boeing are sorry for the lives lost in the recent 737 accidents and are relentlessly focused on safety to ensure tragedies like this never happen again.
— Dennis A. Muilenburg (@BoeingCEO) April 4, 2019
Watch the full video here: https://t.co/kZawq35YnZ pic.twitter.com/G9uIHjxsWi
Someone needs to go down for manslaughter or, in the very least, criminal negligence. It’s not one but two avoidable accidents in a row. An apology (so late as well) won’t cut it.
— Visual Culture Blog (@MarcoBohr) April 4, 2019
That’s a good first step. It’s time now to demonstrate to the flying public that these issues can be fixed. I believe Boeing will bounce back stronger than ever from these tragedies.
— Uchechukwu Onwuemena (@uonwuemena) April 4, 2019
