Boeing CEO Pleads Initial Ignorance of MCAS Message Details | Aviation International News

Boeing CEO Pleads Initial Ignorance of MCAS Message Details

Dennis Muilenburg gets grilled by lawmakers on when he learned of chief technical pilot's concerns about MCAS functionality in the 737 Max.

By Gregory Polek • Senior Editor

October 29, 2019

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg testified to Congress Tuesday that he did not become aware until recent weeks of the details in instant messages and emails exchanged between two of his company’s employees suggesting the chief technical pilot encountered serious problems with the maneuvering characteristics augmentation system (MCAS) in the 737 Max during simulator sessions. Despite accepting “ownership” and accountability for the series of events leading to the pair of crashes that claimed the lives of 346 people, Muilenburg absorbed criticism from several lawmakers on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation who questioned why he did not know of the substance of the communications until several months after they appeared in documents filed with the Justice Department in response to the ongoing investigation into the October 2018 crash of Lion Air Flight 610.

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