The Foundation for Aviation Safety, founded by Ed Pierson, a former Boeing 737
factory manager turned whistleblower, has renewed its calls for investigators to review production processes at Boeing’s Renton facilities in the context of the two fatal 737 MAX crashes.
Withholding critical evidence
In a statement, The Foundation for Aviation Safety alleged that Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board ( NTSB
), has been facing mounting criticism for refusing to share newly uncovered evidence of manufacturing defects connected to the two fatal 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
The Foundation reiterated that a letter addressed to Homendy in November presented new evidence, including “official” Boeing and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) documents that were not shared with accident investigators after the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashes.
Photo: Alexiushan | Shutterstock
“The letter draws a striking comparison between the NTSB’s approach to the 737 MAX investigations and its more thorough examination of the January 2024 Alaska Airlines blowout accident.”
In July, the Foundation delivered new evidence to the NTSB, arguing that Boeing had managed to divert attention from its operations following the two fatal accidents, which it failed to do so following the Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 door plug blowout in January.
“The documents show that Boeing fraudulently withheld—and is currently withholding—critical evidence from the public and government investigators, including the NTSB about manufacturing related electrical defects that played a key role in the two deadly crashes.”
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More documents have been published pointing to quality control problems in Boeing’s MAX production that could impact the airliner’s safety.
Wiring system issues
According to the foundation, the documents prove that Boeing and the FAA were aware of quality control and installation issues of the Electrical Wiring Interconnect System (EWIS) while the 737 MAX
aircraft were being built at the factory in Renton, Washington, the United States.
“MCAS software and the lack of pilot training did not trigger these two fatal crashes. Shockingly, the documents show that
Boeing
suspected the new ET302 airplane had intermittent electrical faults in the airplane’s wiring before it crashed.”
Photo: VDB Photos | Shutterstock
It answered its own rhetorical question of why it was relevant today by saying that by refusing to share the new information, the NTSB was jeopardizing the safety of more than 1,600 737 MAX aircraft in service globally.
“This new evidence should result in the reopening of the MAX accident investigations. This would lead to a deeper examination of Boeing’s manufacturing practices, the implementation of corrective actions, and improved safety margins for future MAX aircraft as well as for those currently in service.”
The Foundation had already called for the 737 MAX global fleet to be grounded when the FAA
issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in August 2023 to address a potential standby power control unit (SPCU) failure.
“The Foundation for Aviation Safety noted that the P6 panel provides circuit breakers for many of the airplane’s most critical systems. The Foundation, and three individuals, requested that the FAA prohibit further operation of the 737 MAX.”
The regulator pushed back, saying that the airworthiness directive (AD) will adequately address the unsafe condition. The FAA finalized and published the AD on April 17.
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In The Foundation for Aviation Safety’s opinion, the continuous electrical problems of the Boeing 737 MAX warrants the grounding of the type.
Ruling out electrical faults
In addition, after the Ethiopian Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (EAAIB) published its final report of the Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX crash that happened in March 2019, NTSB pushed back against claims made by the Ethiopian investigators.
The latter party concluded that electrical problems that existed since the time of the accident aircraft’s production date resulted in the left angle of attack (AoA) sensor heater failing, resulting in the AoA sensor providing erroneous values to the 737 MAX’s flight computer, triggering the infamous Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS).
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
As a consequence, the 737 MAX 8
, registered as ET-AVJ, crashed shortly after taking off on flight ET302 from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport (ADD) in March 2019.
“The US team found that the erroneous AOA sensor output was caused by the separation of the AOA sensor vane due to impact with a foreign object, which was most likely a bird.”
During the investigation, the NTSB provided the EAAIB with evidence that supported its potential bird strike theory. Furthermore, the US investigators noted that their Ethiopian counterparts failed to provide any details supporting their claims about an electrical problem on the 737 MAX involved in the fatal accident.
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