After repeated incidents, Boeing announced the departure of the head of the 737 MAX program

Faced with regular problems on its 737 MAX program, American aircraft maker Boeing on Wednesday announced the departure of a program manager and a management restructuring of its aviation arm Civil. In a letter addressed to the group’s employees by Stanley Deal, general director of Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA), the group announced the departure of Ed Clark, vice-president and general director of the 737 program, until now as head. The Renton factory, not far from the group’s historic headquarters in Seattle (Northwest), then “Nearly 18 years of dedicated service to Boeing”.

He was also head of the Renton factory, not far from the group’s historic headquarters in Seattle (Northwest). Katie Ringgold, currently vice president in charge of 737 delivery operations, will succeed Ed Clark. The group also announced a restructuring of BCA’s management, with the appointment of Elizabeth Lund as vice president in charge of quality.

The current position holder, Carol Murray, will continue under the leadership of Ms. Lund, “To ensure a smooth transition and accelerate our quality initiatives”, mentioned the Stanley Deal. Finally, Mike Fleming, who until now was in charge of the return to service of the 737 MAX, will replace Elizabeth Lund as vice president of all programs for various models of Boeing aircraft.

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“In addition to overseeing production of the 737, 767, 777/777X and 787, Mike will continue to lead our customer service team. He will continue to listen to our customers and respond to their operational needs.”, refers to a letter from management. Finally, Don Ruhmann will be in charge of development programs under the direct supervision of Stanley Deal.

(The company is still reeling from an incident in January when a door fell loose from the cabin of a 737 MAX 9 during an Alaska Airlines flight from Portland, Oregon to the United States). Only a few people suffered minor injuries in this incident. After the incident, the American Civil Aviation Regulatory Agency (FAA) suspended 171 of the 218 737 MAX 9 planes that had already been delivered from flight.

A preliminary report by the US Transportation Safety Agency (NTSB) concluded that four bolts securing the doors were missing. The 737 MAX was grounded for nearly two years after two aircraft crashes, the first of Indonesian company Lion Air in late 2018, the second of Ethiopian company Ethiopian Airlines in early 2019, caused further damage. More than 350 deaths. In both cases, a problem with new software was the cause of the crash.