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Boeing 737 MAX crash victims' families say they fear the aircraft flying again
Boeing's 737 MAX 8 aircraft was implicated in two crashes that killed 346 people
For more background on Boeing see:
Statement by Ralph Nader
FAA Surrenders on Safety
November 18, 2020
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has abdicated its responsibility to ensure the Boeing 737 MAX is as safe as possible. FAA and its reactive tradition (that critics have called its tombstone mentality) is grimly illustrated by the FAA’s astounding insistence that the 737 MAX was a safe aircraft before and after each of the Boeing-caused aircraft’s fatal crashes that took 346 lives.
The two crashes of the 737 MAX were caused by design flaws and by the flawed Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS). Ungrounding the Boeing 737 MAX while ignoring the basic aerodynamic problem of the plane’s “quick and dirty” engine position/fuselage mismatch, the cable/rudder vulnerability, and other non-flight control issues will recklessly put airline passengers at risk.
As I wrote in my November 13, 2020 letter (with attachments) to FAA Administrator Dickson, the engine position/fuselage mismatch is the ignored, inexcusable design failure of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft which must be recalled for mandated modifications.
There has been no focus on, in the words of MIT professor and aerospace engineer, Xavier de Luis, an “aerodynamic solution to an aerodynamic problem.” (Professor de Luis lost his sister in the Ethiopian crash).
Consumer groups, airline pilots, top independent aviation safety experts, and even whistleblowers within the FAA have expressed concerns about the FAA’s reluctance to require substantial upgrades and fixes before the 737 MAX is allowed to fly.
Tragically, the FAA has engaged in a “going-through-the-motions” pretense of a regulatory process infected with preordained conclusions. FAA decision-making based on secret data, tests, and assessments is a farce. Secrecy-based rulemaking undermines examination by experts representing their own judgment on behalf of Congress, consumers, pilots, flight attendants, and families of crash victims who want to protect airline passengers.
Paul Hudson, President of FlyersRights.org said, “Boeing hid documents from the FAA and the airlines in order to get the 737 MAX originally certified as safe. Now, despite numerous assurances by Boeing CEO Calhoun and FAA officials that there would be full transparency going forward, Boeing and FAA seek to keep all of its documents secrets, and the FAA wants to keep all its testing data secret.” Federal prosecutors with the Justice Department are reportedly presenting a sitting grand jury with claims that Boeing misled the FAA about the MCAS software.
It is long overdue for the FAA to stop protecting Boeing’s criminal negligence and start protecting the public.
For more details see: November 13, 2020 Letter to FAA Administrator Stephen Dickson
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