737 MAX Problems Not Solved, Warns Former Boeing Manager

RENTON, WASHINGTON — BBC reports that a former senior manager at Boeing's 737 plant, Ed Pierson, has raised new concerns over the safety of the company's 737 Max planes.

Before Pierson spoke out, all attention was on the Max's MCAS system, which was designed to make the new Max models perform more like the older 737 models.

The Max models are longer, and use more powerful engines that are much bigger than before.

So, the idea was to save design costs by simply taking an old design and stretching it, and solving the oversized engine problem by simply putting the engine forward and higher, so it could clear the ground.

But the new engine position tended to push the plane's nose up, so Boeing came up with MCAS, which controls the horizontal stabilizers and pushes the plane's nose down automatically.

However, faulty sensor readings could too easily make the MCAS crash the plane, which is why the MCAS has now been fixed.

But Pierson's report says that authorities did not focus enough on factory conditions, which created planes with faulty sensors and other safety issues.