Boeing Charted Own Safety Course for Years With FAA as Co-Pilot
- Engineers complained as company pushed savings and efficiency
- Ethiopian Airlines crash brings scrutiny to jet certification
This article is for subscribers only.
Soon after Lion Air Flight 610 plummeted into the Java Sea last October, killing all 189 people aboard, Boeing Co. began to point gingerly toward mistakes the airline may have made.
A preliminary report by Indonesian authorities recounted the trouble pilots had with a litany of mechanical woes. That same day, Boeing released its own summary of the findings. The aircraft maker didn’t draw conclusions. But it focused on other factors – potential miscues by maintenance crews and then by pilots who didn’t follow a checklist on the 737 Max 8 jet’s final flight.