Tobi Ijalana
The Ethiopian Airlines jet and October crash of the Lion Air 737 MAX killed a total of 346 people and also led to global grounding of the aircraft.
Following Boeing’s annual shareholder meeting in Chicago on Monday, Muilenburg claimed the crashes were not caused by the manufacturers but the pilots and that Boeing was unable to find any technical slip or gap in building its MCAS software. He said:
“When we design these systems, understand that these airplanes are flown in the hands of pilots. It met Boeing’s design and safety criteria, and adhered to certification protocols.”
According to indiatoday.in, Ethiopian officials had said earlier this month that pilots flying Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 repeatedly performed all of Boeing’s procedures, but could not control the plane before it crashed.
Somehow accepting the blame for the crash, however, Muilenburg added that Boeing can make some improvements to make the 737 MAX safer to fly.
“Going forward we have identified a way to improve.
“I am confident that that again will make one of the safest airplanes in the air to fly. We know this is a link in both accidents that we can break.”
He also promised that 737 MAX would become the safest plane in the air.
