Reports: Whistleblower says Boeing rejected safety upgrades to 737 MAX because of cost

SEATTLE — New reports of an internal whistleblower complaint about the 737 MAX are renewing questions about the safety culture at Boeing.

On Wednesday, The Seattle Times and The New York Times both reported that a Boeing engineer said the company rejected safety upgrades to the 737 MAX because of the cost.

According to The Seattle Times, Ewbank wrote that in 2014 his group proposed to senior executives that they make safety upgrades to the MAX, including a system his complaint suggests could have potentially prevented the crashes that killed 346 people.

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The Seattle Times reports Ewbank's complaint says managers twice rejected the system because it would cost more and require more pilot training, which drives up the cost for airlines.

The newspaper quoted Ewbank writing that management was "more concerned with cost and schedule than safety and quality."

"It looks as though he worked in the same department I used to work at 20-odd years ago, the same pressures exist now that existed then," said former Boeing engineer Todd Curtis of Airsafe.com. "They have to balance the needs of the customer with the needs of the certifying authority."

In response to the whistleblower report, the company wrote, "Safety, quality and integrity are at the core of Boeing's values. Boeing offers its employees a number of channels for raising concerns and complaints and has rigorous processes in place, both to ensure that such complaints receive thorough consideration and to protect the confidentiality of employees who make them. Accordingly, Boeing does not comment on the substance or existence of such internal complaints."

The 737 MAX is grounded worldwide while regulators evaluate a fix to the system that pushed down the nose of the plane.

The company has said it expects the MAX to return to service before the end of the year.

The New York Times reports the Department of Justice is now reviewing Ewbank's complaint in its criminal probe of the 737 MAX design.

Ewbank did not respond to requests for comment.

Cox Media Group