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The
engineer said in the complaint filed this year that during the
development of the 737 MAX, Boeing had rejected a safety system
to minimize costs, the New York Times had reported https://nyti.ms/2nOUo1J
earlier.
The engineer, who worked on cockpit instruments and controls,
felt the safety system could have reduced risks that contributed
to two fatal crashes that killed 346 people in Ethiopia and
Indonesia, according to the report.
"All of this information is critical to have as we prepare for
our Committee's October 30th hearing with Boeing's CEO, as well
as Boeing's chief engineer of its commercial airplanes division,
and the chief pilot for the 737," said Peter DeFazio, chairman
of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
Boeing said it would continue to cooperate with Congress and
regulatory authorities as it focuses on safely returning the MAX
to service.
The committee has been poring over hundreds of thousands of
pages of documents and emails from Boeing and the FAA, but it
was not aware of the engineer's complaint, he said.
Boeing persuaded the Federal Aviation Administration in 2014 to
relax safety standards for the new 737 MAX related to cockpit
alerts that would warn pilots of problems during flight, the
Seattle Times reported http://bit.ly/2n20mf0 on Wednesday,
citing documents.
The regulator struck out four clauses that would be requirements
for any new jet being designed today, the report said. That
meant the planemaker avoided a complete upgrade of the 737's
aging flight-crew-alerting system, the report added.
Boeing declined to comment on the Seattle Times report.
Boeing's submission cited an estimate that full compliance would
cost more than $10 billion, the Seattle Times said.
That amount included the direct cost to Boeing of redesigning
the airplane and the expense of additional pilot training, all
of which would have been borne by Boeing's airline customers,
making the MAX a much less attractive airplane, the report said.
"These reports certainly add to my concern that production
pressures may have impacted safety on the 737 MAX, which is
exactly why it's so critical we get to the bottom of this,"
DeFazio said.
The FAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington, Rama Venkat and
Sathvik N in Bengaluru; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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