TORONTO -- For the families of Canadians killed in the Ethiopian Airlines crash, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg’s admission in front of U.S. Congress that the company “made mistakes” fell mostly flat.
The Senate Commerce Committee grilled Muilenburg in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday over the Boeing 737 Max 8 flaws that contributed to the October 2018 Lion Air crash and the March Ethiopian Airlines crash, which resulted in a combined 346 passenger deaths.
During the testimony Muilenburg acknowledged Boeing “got some things wrong,” but some families in the room suggested his apology didn’t sound sincere.
“There’s certain things you’d like to hear from Dennis Muilenburg, but you know he’s never going to go down there,” Chris Moore, whose daughter Danielle died in the Ethiopian Airlines crash, said following the meeting. “(There are) other things that we did hear that they were somewhat helpful, but ultimately a lot of it we’ve already heard, including the apologies.”
The Moore family was among more than 12 relatives of passengers who died in the crashes to attend the hearing. They were encouraged to stand and hold images of their loved ones during the testimony.
Danielle Moore was headed to Nairobi, Kenya for the United Nations Environment Assembly when her plane -- Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 -- crashed just a few minutes after takeoff form Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on March 10.
Moore was among 18 Canadians on the flight. Another two passengers were in the process of applying to become permanent residents in Canada.
For Joan Vincent, whose daughter Angela Rehhorn was also headed to the UN event, a lot of the discussion from Tuesday’s testimony fell short of expectations.
“It was frustrating, there weren’t a lot of answers, there was a lot of rhetoric,” she said. ‘I’m glad the senators were very persistent and tried to get down to the bottom of some answers.”
During the testimony, Muilenburg was questioned about some internal messages from 2016 by a senior test pilot who noted an “egregious” problem with the plane’s flight-control system, MCAS, which is being implicated in both crashes.
Despite the concerns, Boeing was allowed to keep any explanation of the system from pilot manuals and training programs.
“They knew that the plane had flaws after the first crash, and yet today he said he didn’t really read the emails,” said Clariss Moore, Danielle’s mother.
“It might be too late for my daughter, but for the next generation, it will not happen this way. People should be held responsible for their actions.”
Investigators in Indonesia say the MCAS system contributed to the Lion Air crash, while authorities in Ethiopia are continuing to investigate the Ethiopian Airlines crash.
Boeing is expecting to have the Max 8 airplane improvements meet regulatory approval by the end of the year. Rehhorn’s father Roland said he is planning to push the Canadian government to test the planes further than simply accepting an approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
“I hope that Boeing will do what they said and that is make sure safety comes first, that is apparently the motto, so now they have to prove it,” he said.
The Rehhorn family was scheduled for a meeting with Muilenburg later Tuesday, while the Moore family was planning to meet with Boeing officials, though nothing had been confirmed.
With files from The Associated Press
