Audio from a meeting that took place in November revealed how American Airlines pilots confronted Boeing weeks after a Lion Air 737 Max model crashed shortly after takeoff in Indonesia.
In the audio obtained by CBS News, one pilot demanded clear answers from Boeing regarding the potential faulty sensor data that took down the Lion Air Max jet. An official responded, agreeing that pilots needed to know what could have gone wrong with the previously popular 737 Max models.
"These guys didn't even know the d*** system was on the airplane - nor did anybody else," one of the angry pilots said during the meeting that indicated heightened emotions and frustrated voices.
Vice President Mike Sinnett was present during the meeting but the outlet noted that he appeared to have not known his voice was being recorded. Sinnett said in defense that Boeing has been trying not to instill information "overload" during flight crew members.
Sinnett further explained that the Lion Air crisis was a one-time incident. Around five months after the tension-filled meeting, another Boeing 737 Max under the Ethiopian Airlines crashed in the same manner that the Lion Air jet did.
Despite Sinnett's defense, pilots who attended the meeting appeared to be unsatisfied with the answers provided. The Boeing VP also assured everyone presents during the session that the company would fix the problem without rushing things.
The Dallas Morning News, which first reported about the audio recording, noted that Boeing reiterated in an emailed statement that it is very much committed to cooperating with international airlines to ensure the safety of its 737 Max jets once the re-certification process is completed.
Allied Pilots Association (APA) President Dan Carey forwarded the audio file to The News, explaining that pilots who attended the November meeting were still unsure if the world-class jet maker took the Lion Air issue with the necessary urgency.
It was also revealed on Tuesday that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reportedly discovered how senior officials under the agency failed in efficient monitoring some key safety aspects of the Boeing 737 Max jets' flight-control system.
According to the Wall Street Journal, preliminary findings on the internal probe for the jets in question indicated that the airplane manufacturer also did not label the 737 Max models' anti-stall feature properly.
Boeing previously admitted that bad data could have played a role in the malfunctioning of the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines jets' anti-stall system, which then resulted to the tragic crashes that killed a total of 346 people.
For its April records, Boeing revealed that it did not receive new orders for its 737 Max models, CNN reported. No orders were placed on the 787 Dreamliner either.
