Boeing Continues to Have Issues with 737 Max
- Emails and texts show damning conversations
- Boeing CEO fired last month
- Public’s confidence in airline affected
Boeing employees have raised serious doubts among themselves as to the safety of the 737 Max. Apparently, they were trying to hide some of the problems from federal regulators while ridiculing those people that designed and oversaw the production of the plane. This was released in a batch of emails and texts recently, a year after the 737 Max was grounded following two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
Congressional investigators released the documents on Thursday and will likely continue the narrative that the manufacturer had put speed and profits ahead of safety. This is more of a PR nightmare, something that Boeing simply cannot deal with any further.
Internal emails show company culture
Last month saw the firing of CEO Dennis Muilenburg. However, the internal messages suggest there was something much more nefarious going on. Boeing employees had talked about how the company misled federal regulators about problems with the company’s flight simulators, which are used to train pilots and develop the aircraft themselves.
In one email, a Boeing employee suggested that they would never allow their own family to travel on a Boeing 737 Max. They also pointed out that Boeing senior management wasn’t up to the task, that the company had selected low-cost suppliers, and that the entire project had been nothing but a black hole for money.
Another email said: “This airplane is designed by clowns who in turn are supervised by monkeys.” The employee who wrote the email has had their name redacted, but Boeing was quick to admit that the culture needs to be repaired.
The company has said that the conversations have “raised questions about Boeing’s interactions with the FAA.” At the same time, it has also expressed confidence that the machines do work properly.
Airline wants to convince regulators
Boeing is still trying to fix the flight control software and other systems on the 737 Max to persuade regulators to let it fly again. The work has taken longer than originally anticipated, and at this point, it’s unclear when the plane will return to the skies.
The effect on public perception
One of the biggest issues is going to be whether or not the public will feel comfortable enough to fly on the 737 Max, which doesn’t look very likely. In that sense, Boeing’s problems may have just started, and this could continue to be a problem for several years going forward.
The aircraft company has already shown that safety wasn’t a serious concern in relation to profits, and people won’t be likely to forget that anytime soon.