USA TODAY International Edition
Another view: For Boeing, safety will always be a core value
Boeing declined to provide a responding view to our editorial. Excerpts from a message sent to employees by Dennis Muilenburg, chairman, president and CEO of Boeing:
The recent loss of Lion Air Flight 610 is weighing heavily on our collective hearts and minds. The ongoing accident investigation remains fluid as we partner with U.S. and Indonesian government and regulatory officials to identity the root cause, but I wanted to share some thoughts.
First and foremost, our deepest sympathies are with the families and loved ones of those onboard. A tragic accident like this is a powerful reminder of the importance of our work, and the pride and excellence we must bring to our jobs. Every day, millions of people rely on our commercial airplanes to crisscross the globe safely and reliably. When that doesn’t happen, for any reason, we take it seriously.
Safety has been a core value at Boeing for as long as we’ve been building airplanes, and always will be. There’s no greater priority for us and our industry. I have supreme confidence in all of you and our products, including the 737 MAX, but when it comes to safety, our standards of excellence can never be too high . ...
While many questions are unanswered, and continued media speculation has introduced false assumptions, it’s important you know the facts ... to the extent we can share them at this stage of the investigation:
First, the 737 MAX is a safe airplane designed, built and supported by skilled men and women who approach their work with the utmost integrity. Customers continue daily global operations of the aircraft with confidence.
Second, you may have seen media reports that we intentionally withheld information about airplane functionality from our customers. That’s simply untrue. The relevant function is described in the Flight Crew Operations Manual, and we routinely engage customers about how to operate our airplanes safely.
Finally, regardless of the outcome, we’re going to learn from this accident and continue to improve our safety record. However, we will not share or debate details in the media.