This archive report was first published on 10 January 2020.
US lawmakers have released internal Boeing documents that reveal the company's employees made disparaging comments about US aviation regulators and boasted about getting the 737 MAX certified with minimal pilot training.
The documents, which include emails and text messages, show that Boeing test pilots exchanged messages about problems with flight simulators reproducing actual flight conditions in 2017 and 2018.
One employee wrote in a message from 2018: "I still haven't been forgiven by God for the covering up I did last year," in reference to dealing with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Another employee wrote in August 2015: "I know but this is what these regulators get when they try and get in the way. They impede progress,"
Yet another employee said in 2017: "This airplane is designed by clowns, who in turn are supervised by monkeys," apparently in reference to the FAA.
Boeing released the documents in the interest of transparency, saying they relate to the development and qualification of Boeing's MAX simulators in 2017 and 2018.
The mocking tone of the messages is an embarrassment for Boeing amid the 737 MAX crisis, which has worsened its already strained relations with the FAA.
The plane has been grounded worldwide since March 13, 2019, following two crashes that killed a total of 346 people in late 2018 and early 2019.
