Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg admits ‘responsibility to eliminate risk’ of Mcas failure in 737 Max planes

Boeing has admitted that a failure in its Mcas anti stall system was a factor in the crash of two 737 Max planes as the aircraft manufacturer's CEO said “it’s our responsibility to eliminate this risk”.

Following the release of the preliminary report of the Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 accident investigation, company CEO Dennis Muilenburg released a video statement saying he was
sorry for the lives lost in the Lion Air flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines flight 302, in which a total of 346 people were killed.

He said: “With the release of the preliminary report of the Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 accident investigation it’s apparent that in both flights the manoeuvring characteristics augmentation system (Mcas) activated in response to erroneous angle of attack information. “The history of our industry shows most accidents are caused by a chain of events. This again is the case here. We know we can break one of those two chain links in these accidents as pilots have told us erroneous activation of the Mcas function can add to what is already high workload environment. It’s our responsibility to eliminate this risk, we own it and we know how to do it.”

Ethiopian Airlines said the preliminary report “clearly showed” that the Ethiopian Airlines pilots followed Boeing's recommended and FAA's approved emergency procedures.

“Despite their hard work and full compliance with the emergency procedures, it was very unfortunate that they could not recover the airplane from the persistence of nose diving.”

The full details of what happened to the Ethiopian Airlines flight will be issued by the government authorities in the final report.

The implications for insurers are yet to be confirmed but estimates have been put at well over a $1 billion as 737 Max planes were grounded worldwide after the Ethiopian Airlines crash.

Global Aerospace is the lead insurer for Boeing. It is majority owned by Munich Re, with Berkshire Hathaway owning a substantial share. Chubb and Willis Towers Watson have been identified as lead insurer and broker for Ethiopian Airlines.

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