Boeing fires 737 Max manager after January crash

The North American aircraft manufacturer Boeing announced this Thursday the departure of Ed Clark, responsible for the 737 Max aircraft, a month and a half after the incident with an Alaska Airlines plane that lost part of the fuselage in flight.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes Chief Executive Stan Deal said in a note to employees that Clark will leave the company when he takes over the 737 Max unit in 2021, the final leg of an 18-year career with the plane. .

Clark, who was also previously responsible for Boeing’s Renton, Washington, plant where the 737 Max is built, will be replaced in both positions by Katie Ringgold, who oversaw deliveries of the model to customers.

Boeing announced new changes to its management team, including the creation of a new quality assurance position in its commercial aircraft division, which will be filled by veteran executive Elizabeth Lund.

A preliminary report from the North American Transportation Safety Agency (NTSB) concluded that four screws were missing from a panel of the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9, which ran into trouble on Jan. 5 when part of the fuselage broke off during flight. There are 117 people on board.

The incident, which resulted in no injuries, led to an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon, shortly after takeoff, according to a preliminary report.

Due to the incident with the Alaska Airlines plane, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on January 6 ordered the grounding of all Boeing 737s, which were gradually released from “quarantine” twenty days later and returned to the air.

The FAA committed five years ago to strengthen oversight of Boeing after two deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019 that also involved 737 Max planes led to the biggest crisis in the company’s history.

The aircraft manufacturer accumulated losses over five years, first due to the 737 Max crisis and then due to the economic situation resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.