Faced with the regular problems observed on its 737 MAX program, the American aircraft manufacturer Boeing announced on Wednesday February 21 the departure of the program manager and a reorganization of the management of its civil aviation branch.
In a letter sent by the general director of Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA), Stanley Deal, to the group's employees, which AFP was able to consult, the group announced the departure of Ed Clark, vice-president and general manager of the 737 program, after “nearly 18 years of dedicated service to Boeing”. He was also head of the Renton factory, not far from the group's historic headquarters in Seattle (northwest).
Katie Ringgold, currently vice president in charge of 737 delivery operations, will succeed Ed Clark. The group also announced a reorganization of BCA's management, including the appointment of Elizabeth Lund as vice-president in charge of quality.
Missing bolts
The company is still suffering from the incident that occurred in January when a door came off the cabin of a 737 MAX 9 during an Alaska Airlines flight, departing from Portland (Oregon in the United States) . The incident caused only a few minor injuries.
After the incident, the American Civil Aviation Regulatory Agency (FAA) suspended 171 of the 218 737 MAX 9 planes already delivered from flight. A preliminary report from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) concluded that four bolts supposed to secure the door were missing.
The 737 MAX had been grounded for almost two years after the crashes of two aircraft, the first, at the end of 2018, of the Indonesian company Lion Air, the second, at the beginning of 2019, of the Ethiopian company Ethiopian Airlines, resulting in more than 350 dead. In both cases, a problem with new software was the cause of the crashes.
With AFP
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