Boeing, the American aerospace company, has fired its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dennis Muilenburg. The company is looking to abate the crisis after two crashes involving “the most efficient aircraft till date”, the 737 Max 8.
The first major accident involving the 737 Max occurred on 29 October 2018, as Lion Air’s flight 610 crashed in Indonesia’s Java Sea just minutes after taking off, killing all 189 people on board. The second accident occurred on 10 March 2019, when Ethiopian Airlines’ Flight 302 crashed six minutes after taking off. 157 people on board perished in this incident.
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Both accidents caused massive outrage around the world and Boeing was forced to ground the aircraft which was introduced in 2017.
Investigations for both crashes have found that software known as MCAS was the reason behind the incidents.
Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) is an automated software integrated into the Boeing 737 Max’s flight control system to help prevent stalling the aircraft mid-air. In both incidents, an angle-of-attack sensor failed and sent erroneous data to MCAS which sent the airplanes into fatal nose dives.
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After the revelations made by the investigations, pilots and airlines came forward alleging that they were not informed about the existence of MCAS in the flight control system. Throughout the development of 737 Max 8, Boeing did not inform pilots and airlines about MCAS, considering its potential cost and effect on the training of the pilots.
Earlier this month, Boeing temporarily shut down the production of 737 Max 8 after it came under extreme scrutiny from Federal Aviation Administration.
Now, Boeing has appointed David Calhoun as the new CEO to lead the company as it looks to fix the 737 Max 8 and regain the confidence of customers.
Via: New York Times
