US President Donald Trump in an early morning tweet on Monday lashed out at Boeing 737 Max, saying the aircraft should be improved with unspecified new features and given a new name.
“What do I know about branding, maybe nothing (but I did become President!), but if I were Boeing, I would FIX the Boeing 737 MAX, add some additional great features, and REBRAND the plane with a new name,” Trump tweeted.
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“No product has suffered like this one. But again, what the hell do I know?” the President added.
The model 737 MAX came under scrutiny after 346 people lost their lives in two deadly plane crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
On March 10, 157 people on board an Ethiopian Airlines flight — a Boeing 737 MAX jet — lost their lives after their flight crashed just a few minutes after it took off from Adis Ababa.
In October last year, a Boeing 737 MAX Lion Air flight crashed in Indonesia, claiming the lives of all 181 people on board.
Investigations are ongoing into both the incidents.
The March 10 incident became the second instance that the Boeing 737 MAX jet was involved in a crash within a span of five months.
This triggered safety concerns, leading to several countries and airlines grounding the aircraft around the world.
A few days after the crash, Trump was in consultation with Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenberg.
Preliminary report of the investigations of the plane crash found issues with the jets’ Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), an automated flight control system that can force a plane to dive down unexpectedly.
The President in a tweet last month said “pilots are no longer needed, but rather computer scientists from MIT” due to the perceived complexities of flying technologically advanced aircraft.
“I see it all the time in many products. Always seeking to go one unnecessary step further, when often old and simpler is far better,” he wrote.
Earlier this month, Muilenberg, in a statement, said that the company is working in close collaboration with the Federal Aviation Administration to finalise and implement a software update that will ensure accidents like that of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 never happen again.
The new software update will let the pilot have the ability to override MCAS and manually control the aircraft, ensuring that the pilot always has the upper hand.