Battling the biggest crisis of his tenure, Mr Muilenburg will try to bolster investor confidence in the manufacturer’s future as well as that of its fastest-selling aeroplane as questions linger over the model’s safety. There is speculation that both planes’ anti-stall ‘Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System’, or MCAS, are believed to have malfunctioned. At Boeing’s annual meeting in Chicago on Monday, one audience member asked Mr Muilenburg: “Can you admit that the design was flawed?
“Never mind the processes you went through, but what you came up with in the end was flawed, was it not?”
The Boeing chief responded: “We’ve designed the Max to have the flying qualities that were desired in the hands of the pilots.
“The MCAS system is part of that design effort.
“We have gone back and confirmed again as we do the safety analysis the engineering analysis that we followed exactly the steps in our design and certification processes that consistently produce safe aeroplanes.
“In this case again, as in most accidents, there is a chain of events that occur.
“It’s not correct to attribute that to any single item – we know that there are some improvements we can make to MCAS and we will make those improvements.
“But the reason this industry is safe is that we never stop making safety improvements – we never claim that we have reached the end point.”
American Airlines pilots have warned Boeing Co’s draft training proposals for the troubled 737 MAX do not go far enough to address their concerns, according to written comments submitted to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and seen by Reuters.
The comments were made by the Allied Pilots Association (APA), which represents pilots at American Airlines Group Inc, the world’s largest airline and one of the biggest 737 MAX operators in the United States.
Their support is important because Boeing has said pilots’ confidence in the 737 MAX will play a critical role in convincing the public that the aircraft is safe to fly again.
Boeing’s fast-selling 737 MAX was grounded worldwide in March following a fatal Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed all 157 on board just five months after a similar crash on a Lion Air flight that killed all 189 passengers and crew.
Now it is readying for regulatory approval a final software update and training package to address the MCAS system that played a role in both nose-down crashes.
A draft report by an FAA-appointed board of pilots, engineers and other experts concluded that pilots only need additional computer-based training to understand MCAS, rather than simulator time. The public has until April 30 to make comments.
APA is arguing mere computer explanation “will not provide a level of confidence for pilots to feel not only comfortable flying the aircraft but also relaying that confidence to the traveling public”.
It said the MAX computer training, which originally involved a one-hour iPad course, should include videos of simulator sessions showing how MCAS works along with demonstrations of other cockpit emergencies such as runaway stabilizer, a loss of control that occurred on both doomed flights.
APA also called for recurring training on simulators that includes scenarios like those experienced by the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines pilots, in addition to computer training.
Boeing is under pressure to deliver a software fix and a new pilot training package that will convince global regulators, and the flying public, that the aircraft is safe to fly again.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration could clear Boeing the 737 MAX jet to fly in late May or the first part of June, two people familiar with the matter said on Friday, though Boeing has yet to submit the updated software and training for review.
Some pilots have warned that draft training proposals do not go far enough to address their concerns.
Meanwhile, deliveries of the 737 MAX, which airlines around the world had been relying on to service a growing air travel industry for years to come, are on hold.