WHAT DID THEY KNOW

Boeing Employees Mocked FAA Over 737 Max Plane in Messages: NYT

“Would you put your family on a Max simulator trained aircraft? I wouldn’t,” one employee said to another in a message.

Boeing sent lawmakers over one hundred pages of materials which included internal messages between employees that mocked the Federal Aviation Administration and boasted that they were able to get the agency to approve the 737 Max airplane with little additional training requirements for pilots. “I still haven’t been forgiven by God for the covering up I did last year,” one employee wrote, reportedly referring to interactions between Boeing and the FAA. “Would you put your family on a Max simulator trained aircraft? I wouldn’t,” one employee said to another in a separate exchange. “No,” their co-worker responded. The communications also reportedly included discussions about plane software problems and issues with 737 Max flight simulators, along with how the company concealed them from the FAA when the agency was certifying the simulators.

The company said that while the messages contained “provocative language” and raised issues about the certification process, all of their “Max simulators are functioning effectively.” FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford said the documents did not reveal any risks with the 737 plane or the flight simulators.