Time
UPDATED: MARCH 29, 2019
A U.S. Lawsuit Targets Boeing Over the Deadly Ethiopian Airlines Crash
A wrongful death lawsuit was filed against Boeing in a U.S. federal court Thursday in what appears to be the first litigation over the fatal crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 earlier this month, Reuters reports.
The case was brought by the family of Jackson Musoni, a 31-year-old Rwandan national who was among at least 22 U.N. workers killed in the March 10 tragedy.
The suit alleges that Boeing’s 737 MAX aircraft had a defectively designed automated flight control system and that Boeing failed to warn pilots about the allegedly faulty sensors. The ill-fated Flight 302 lost control minutes after takeoff from Ethiopia capital’s Addis Adaba and the crash killed all 157 people on board.
Following the crash, dozens of countries and airlines grounded the 737 MAX. The same aircraft was involved in Indonesian carrier Lion Air’s wreckage last October, which killed 189 people.
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Boeing Insists 737 Max is Safe (UPDATE)
The 737 Max was grounded in the U.S. March 13 after a deadly crash involving a Max in Ethiopia on March 10. ( Photo: Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 Max makes emergency landing in Orlando on Tuesday, March 27, 2019/AP)
The Washington Post
Updated: March 27th, 2019
RENTON, WASH. ― Boeing executives on Wednesday defended the safety of the company’s 737 Max commercial jetliner ahead of meetings with representatives from every corner of the global aviation industry.
In its most detailed briefing yet, Boeing executives took a conciliatory tone about the loss of life but rejected calls for new oversight of its aircraft development process amid an investigation into the company’s relationship with its regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration. They also offered more information about software and training fixes in the aftermath of two deadly crashes.
Officials from the Chicago-based aerospace giant defended the embattled 737 Max as the culmination of 50 years of aircraft development in which, they said, safety has been the first priority. They also pushed back on the idea that something is inherently wrong with the aircraft development system Boeing and the FAA have in place, an issue that is the subject of congressional inquiries, a Department of Transportation audit and a criminal probe by the Department of Justice.
In an office park a few miles from its 737 assembly plant, Mike Sinnett, Boeing vice president of engineering and chief project engineer for the 737 program, said the company had been “deeply affected by the tragic loss of life” in Ethiopia.
“We are going to do everything we can to make sure that accidents like this never happen again,” Sinnett told a packed room of 67 media professionals.
The statement echoed one from Chief Executive Douglas Muilenburg in the days after the Lion Air Max 8 crash in Indonesia in October.
Safety concerns over the 737 Max emerged around the world after March 10 when a Boeing Max 8 operated by Ethiopian Airlines crashed minutes after takeoff, killing 157. It came just months after another Max 8 crashed off the coast of Indonesia under similar circumstances, killing 189. The FAA concluded, based on satellite data and evidence from the wreckage, that the two accidents had enough in common that global fleets of the Max 8 should be grounded.
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Related:
Ethiopia Crash Report Due This Week
Boeing 737 Max Makes Emergency Landing in US
Vote of Confidence! Ethiopian Airlines Wins “African Champion of the Year” Award
Ethiopian Airlines Expresses Disappointment – Calls Out Media Outlets Eager to Blame Pilot
UPDATE: Preliminary info from flight 302 black box show ‘Clear similarities’ in Boeing crashes’ (AP)