Boeing’s Make-or-Break Day in Congress Leaves It Broken
CEO Dennis Muilenburg’s Senate testimony over the 737 Max crisis made it plain the company could have, and should have, done more.
Mr. Muilenburg goes to Washington.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergWhen it comes to his own role in Boeing Co.’s 737 Max crisis, CEO Dennis Muilenburg had no good answers.
The Boeing leader appeared in front of the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, exactly one year after a Lion Air-operated Max plunged into the Java Sea as pilots struggled to gain control over a flight-software system unique to that version of Boeing’s bestselling 737 model. Muilenburg acknowledged that Boeing made “mistakes” and was visibly emotional when the families and friends of the 189 Lion Air victims were asked to stand and hold up pictures of those who died in the accident. Pressed repeatedly on why Boeing allowed the body count to grow by another 157 people in the Ethiopian Airlines crash five months later before grounding the plane, Muilenburg said he thinks “about that decision over and over every day” and that “if we knew everything then that we know now, we would have made a different decision.”