The chief executive of Boeing, Dennis Muilenburg, on Tuesday finally broke company leadership’s silence over the 'tragic loss'. Reacting to the two recent crashes involving the 737 Max aircraft type, Muilenburg said, " The tragic losses of Ethiopian airlines flight 302 and Lion airline flight 610 have affected us all."
Boeing chief comments came after US federal prosecutors and regulators opened an inquiry into the plane’s development process.
He said the US manufacturer was cooperating with investigating authorities and said “the investigation is moving forward”.
Meanwhile, the investigation into the final minutes of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 turned on Tuesday to the secrets in the cockpit voice recorder as Boeing and a shaken global aviation industry hung on the outcome.
The voices of Captain Yared Getachew and First Officer Ahmednur Mohammed could reveal what led to the March 10 crash of the Boeing 737 MAX that has worrying parallels with another disaster involving the same model off Indonesia in October.
The twin disasters killed 346 people.
Black box data was downloaded in France but only Ethiopian experts leading the probe have heard the dialogue between Getachew, 29, and Mohammed, 25. The data was back in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, sources familiar with the probe told Reuters.
Experts believe a new automated system in Boeing’s flagship MAX fleet - intended to stop stalling by dipping the plane’s nose - may have played a role in both crashes, with pilots unable to override it as their jets plunged downwards.
Both came down just minutes after take-off after erratic flight patterns and loss of control reported by the pilots. However, every accident is a unique chain of human and technical factors, experts say.
The prestige of Ethiopian Airlines, one of Africa’s most successful companies, and Boeing, the world’s biggest planemaker and a massive U.S. exporter, is at stake in the inquiry.
(With inputs from Reuters)
