Former Managers of Boeing Warn Flyers Against 737 MAX Jets: "Would Absolutely Not"

As the 737 MAX 9 aircraft returns to service, travelers are advised to avoid the airline's problematic aircraft, according to former senior Boeing managers and engineers. "I would never, ever fly a MAX aircraft." Former senior Boeing manager Ed Pierson told the Los Angeles Times, "I worked in the factory where they were built, and I saw the pressure employees were under to rush the planes out the door."

Prior to the 2018 Lion Air crash, Mr. Pierson had argued in favor of grounding the aircraft. He cited a study conducted by his Foundation for Aviation Safety that found more than 1,300 safety problem reports on Boeing's MAX 8 and MAX 9 aircraft that were submitted to the FAA.In agreement, Mr. Pierson remarked, "This is a culture where money is everything." Rather than focusing on the quantity of high-quality aircraft delivered, their success metric is the number of aircraft delivered. It's a disaster waiting to happen when you take everything into account.

 

These remarks follow an emergency that an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-9 MAX encountered on January 6 when, shortly after takeoff, one of the aircraft's doors blew open in midair. With 177 people on board, the aircraft took off from Portland International Airport and made an emergency landing in Oregon. Boeing aircraft were temporarily grounded following the incident in order to undergo a federal inspection. CEO David Calhoun promised that such occurrences would not happen again after acknowledging a "quality escape."Following the Federal Aviation Administration's announcement of a maintenance and inspection program to allow the MAX 9 to resume service, Alaska Airlines began to progressively resume flights last Friday. 

 

Our staff has put in a lot of effort to assist our clients in getting their 737-9 aircraft ready for service. Last Wednesday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gave its approval to the comprehensive inspection protocol. All 737-9 operators are safely putting their aircraft back into service as of right now, according to Mr. Calhoun.