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Dennis Muilenburg had to explain Tuesday, October 29, before the Transportation Committee of the US Senate, the circumstances of two accidents involving a Boeing 737 MAX. The first was off Indonesia and the other in Ethiopia, with a total of 346 casualties.
With dozens of relatives missing in the room, posters with the faces of theirs in hand, the scene was set. Boeing would be held accountable at this hearing before the Senate. One year to the day after the first crash in the history of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 (a year after it was commissioned), seven months after the second accident , the injuries are still bright and there are many shadows.
A lot of questions
With a contrite face and once again demanding forgiveness from families, Dennis Muilenburg acknowledged that he had " many questions that are still waiting for answers ". Serious questions. What did Boeing know and when did the malfunctions of the MCAS, the anti-stall system involved in the two crashes? Did the aircraft manufacturer knowingly lie to the US regulator? What does the group intend to do to avoid such dramas in the future?
Several press inquiries in recent weeks have suggested that, yes, Boeing's leaders knew more than they admitted so far. Pressed by questions repeatedly repeated and reformulated by the senators, Dennis Muilenburg has finally yielded. He acknowledged that he was aware of the concerns of his home pilots about system failures even before the second fatal crash.
Prepared for weeks at this confrontation, the now Boeing general manager reiterated that measures had been taken. " To help affected communities and families, we have spent a million dollars and appointed experts to get families to benefit as quickly as possible, " he said. This compensation fund for victims, totaling $ 100 million, is set up independently of any legal proceedings.
A change of mentality necessary
" We questioned ourselves and changed after these accidents, " said Muilenburg. Errors were made, some things were wrong. We are improving. [...] We have put in place a dedicated security committee on our board of directors, as well as a new organization to allow all our engineers to report directly to Boeing Chief Engineer "incidents and improvements to be made to the aircraft, continued the training engineer.
But there is the cut to the lips, seems to retort some senators who repeatedly questioned the sincerity of the statements and commitments of the group. Boeing must make a revolution and come out of a development model that has led to disaster. And it will take more than a change of a few heads at the top of the group. " What's needed is another mentality, geared towards quality of production and security, and then only thinking for the benefit of the shareholders, " defends Bjorn Fehrm , former pilot and industry expert at the US agency Leeham News.
►Also read: Exchanges between pilots on the 737 MAX put Boeing in turmoil
It is exactly this criticism that motivated the filing of a complaint from one of the engineers who worked on the development of the 737 MAX and who pointed to the inclination of the leaders of the group to focus on issues of cost and delay rather than safety . " What we can remember from this disaster is that we need to give time to the aircraft programs," says Bjorn Fehrm. Let the engineers work and give them time to make the necessary changes instead of putting pressure on them as Boeing did on behalf of the Airbus competition , "says the former pilot.
The FAA also responsible
While a criminal investigation continues in the United States on the crash and the investigations in Indonesia have been completed, Boeing will take time to recover. But Dennis Muilenburg does not intend to let his group take sole responsibility for the disaster. The one who was removed from the board of directors this month pointed to the FAA, the US federal aviation agency .
International experts and Indonesian investigators have ruled that she failed in her certification role. This is partly due to an American specificity, called the " certification delegation " (DOA). " The FAA has always acted to ensure the industrial development of American manufacturers , says Pierre Condom aerospace consultant. This collusion went a little further than she should have gone. There are some new aircraft that are certified by employees of the manufacturer who becomes judge and party, and that is not acceptable, "denounces the expert.
A system created by the US Parliament
But if this system exists, it is because the legislature voted for it and even expanded it in favor of the builders last year. Now, the Senators say they want to return to this system, fruit of the intense lobbying of Boeing in particular. They want to give back to the FAA the means of its mission. The same message should be brought this Wednesday, October 30 at the hearing of Dennis Muilenberg before the House of Representatives.
For the time being, in an effort to preserve its credibility, the FAA is taking its time to certify Boeing's changes to MCAS and the new pilot training program. Hundreds of Boeing 737 MAXs are still grounded. As a result, in the third quarter, Boeing's profits were halved.
This unprecedented crisis would have already lost 10 billion dollars to the group. But it will still be long and expensive . It will be necessary to rebuild the confidence with the customers not to let them slip away at the competitor Airbus. And it will also compensate, the same way it will compensate families after the court proceedings.