Boeing chairman, president & CEO Dennis Muilenburgdescribed his response to the March 10 crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 and the subsequent grounding of the 737 MAX 8, as the US manufacturer finds itself scrambling to restore confidence in the type.
His remarks came during an April 11 speech at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Texas.
“I joined our Boeing test pilots last week aboard the 737 MAX flight for a demonstration of the updated software,” Muilenburg said. “During the flight, the crew performed different scenarios that exercise the software changes in multiple flight conditions. The software update functioned as designed, and I was impressed by the work and professionalism of our team.”
“Overall, our team has made 96 flights totaling over 159 hours of air time with this updated software,” he added. “They will continue additional test flights in the coming weeks and continue to demonstrate that we’ve identified and met all certification requirements.”
The Boeing chief also described an informational event the company hosted at its Seattle campus in March to brief more than 200 international regulators and airline officials about the planned software update and revised training requirements for the MAX 8. He said Boeing leadership has concluded similar meetings in the UK, Singapore and China with international airline pilots and investigators.