Boeing engineer who led improvement of 737 MAX to retire -company memo By Reuters

By Eric M. Johnson

SEATTLE (Reuters) -Boeing Co govt Michael Teal, a veteran prime engineer on its 777X and 737 MAX packages, is about to retire, in keeping with an organization memo seen by Reuters on Friday.

Teal, a 35-year Boeing (NYSE:) veteran, held numerous engineering management roles together with vp and chief challenge engineer on the 777X, 747-8 Freighter and 737 packages. His long-planned retirement date is April 1, the memo mentioned.

Teal was a vp and chief challenge engineer throughout improvement of the 737 MAX, signing of on the jet’s technical configuration. The airplane was grounded for practically two years beginning in 2019 after two deadly crashes.

David Loffing, who has held engineering roles on a number of packages together with the 747, NMA and 737, has been named as vp 777X chief challenge engineer, the memo mentioned.

The 777X program has been hobbled for years by certification issues and weak demand for long-haul jets.

The 737 MAX was permitted to return to service in late 2020.

Teal was amongst numerous Boeing executives who testified at U.S. Congress throughout an investigation right into a flawed flight management system often known as MCAS linked to the 737 MAX crashes.

Teal and Keith Leverkuhn, the vp answerable for the general 737 MAX improvement program, defended the jet’s improvement, and acknowledged flawed assumptions on how the pilots would react to the issues they encountered throughout the crash flights.

Teal additionally instructed investigators from the U.S. Home transportation committee that he was unaware MCAS may activate repeatedly.

Boeing mentioned later that Teal and Leverkuhn, who has retired, supervised lots of of engineers and couldn’t have been concerned in each design resolution.