Boeing
Flight-control test results conducted by experts during simulator tests of the MAX jetliner were described as "egregious."
The way Muilenburg conducted himself during the hearing raised questions regarding the first crash that occurred this time last year. His direct admission of the problems riddling the MCAS- the automated system- has warranted further investigation into the matter and made officials concerned.
In particular, Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn. pressed Muilenburg with respect to his personal morality in the situation, implicating him for refusing him to take the fallout from the crashes, which killed 346 people in total.
"You're saying you're not giving up any compensation at all," Cohen asked Muilenburg. "You're continuing to work and make $30 million a year after this horrific two accidents that caused all these people's relatives to go, to disappear, to die."
More specifically, Cohen was referring to the following incidents: the Lion Air crash of a 737 MAX in Indonesia that killed 189 people and an Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed 157 people 3 months later. Boeing is under pressure for letting pilots continue to fly such planes after the first crash, even though the company knew about the faulty activation.
"I think it's pretty clear to me, to the families of the victims and to the American public that you should resign and do it immediately," said Rep. Jesus Garcia, D-Ill.
Paul Njoroge, an indirect victim of the crash who lost his wife, their three children, and his mother-in-law in the Ethiopian accidenr, said Mr. Muilenburg was evading many of the questions and owed it to the victims' families to be straightforward.
"Why did they continue allowing the planes to fly?" Mr. Njoroge said in an interview outside the hearing room. "Mr. Muilenburg is very good in beating around the bush. He never answers the questions unequivocally."
- https://www.wsj.com/articles/congress-poised-to-toughen-jetliner-certification-11572352185?mod=hp_lead_pos3
- https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/in-five-hour-grilling-over-737-max-crashes-house-panel-reveals-boeing-memos-and-calls-on-ceo-muilenburg-to-resign/
- https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/30/boeing-ceo-grilled-over-salary-accountability-on-capitol-hill.html