US House Aide: New Boeing 737 MAX documents show 'very disturbing' employee concerns

BoeingCodocumentsunder review by aUScongressional panel appear to point to a "very disturbing" picture of commentary from the planemaker'semployees over the grounded737MAXaircraft, a congressionalaidesaid on Tuesday.

Thedocumentswere submitted to theHouseof Representatives transportation infrastructure committee and the Federal Aviation Administration on Monday, the same dayBoeingannounced the firing of chief executive Dennis Muilenburg amid a crisis over the handling of the aftermath of two fatal crashes.

Also Watch:Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg Resigns

Add WION as a Preferred Source

The best-selling737MAXhas been grounded since March. The crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia within five months killed 346 people.

"Similar to other records previously disclosed byBoeing, the records appear to point to a very disturbing picture of bothconcernsexpressed byBoeingemployees about the company’s commitment to safety and efforts by someemployees" to make sureBoeing’s production plans were not disrupted, said theaide, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Boeingsaid in a statement that it "proactively brought these communications to the FAA and Congress as part of our commitment to transparency with our regulators and the oversight committees."

The tone and content "does not reflect the company we are and need to be,"Boeingsaid.

"We have made significant changes as a company in the past nine months to enhance our safety processes, organizations, and culture."

The company said on Monday thatBoeingboard chairman David Calhoun, 62, a former General Electric executive who has been on the board since 2009 would take over from Muilenburg as CEO and president from January13.

The latest batch ofdocumentssubmitted to the FAA contained instant messages from a formerBoeingsenior pilot, Mark Forkner, according to a person briefed on the matter.

In October,Boeingturned over 2016 messages to the FAA between Forkner and another pilot that said he might have unintentionally misled theUSregulator and raised questions about the performance of a key safety system during testing.

Boeinghad earlier turned over thedocumentsto the Justice Department, which has an active criminal investigation underway into matters related to the737MAXplane.

Boeingis struggling to mend relations withUSand international regulators it needs to win over to get the jet back in the air.

Boeingshares, which have dropped more than 20 per centover the past nine months, closed down 1.3 per centto $333 on Tuesday.