Ed Clark oversaw the Renton manufacturing facility the place the Alaska Airways aircraft concerned within the blow-up was accomplished.
The pinnacle of Boeing's 737 MAX program has left the aircraft maker, in accordance with an organization memo, amid scrutiny over manufacturing and security measures following a mid-flight crash. final month.
The corporate additionally changed its management group within the Industrial Airplanes division, in accordance with the memo despatched to workers by Boeing Industrial Airplanes (BCA) CEO Stan Deal, and first reported by The Seattle Occasions on Wednesday.
Ed Clark, an 18-year Boeing veteran who was vice chairman of the MAX program, will depart the corporate, the memo mentioned. The Seattle Occasions reported that he had been fired.
Clark is being changed by Katie Ringgold as vice chairman and normal supervisor, in accordance with the memo.
Boeing is working to clarify and strengthen its security procedures after the January accident on a brand new Alaska Airways 737 MAX 9, during which a cabin panel indifferent and flew in half.
Clark was normal supervisor on the firm's manufacturing facility in Renton, Washington, the place the aircraft concerned within the accident was accomplished.
Within the memo, Deal mentioned the management adjustments had been supposed to drive BCA's “enhanced focus” on guaranteeing that each plane we ship meets all high quality and security necessities, the Seattle Occasions reported.
The management adjustments come forward of Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun's deliberate assembly with US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) Administrator Mike Whitaker subsequent week after the regulator traveled to Renton to go to the Boeing 737 plant.
The FAA grounded the MAX 9 for a number of weeks in January and restricted Boeing's manufacturing of the MAX whereas it audits the plane's manufacturing course of.
The door panel flying off the jet seemed to be lacking 4 key bolts, in accordance with a preliminary report from the US Nationwide Transportation Security Board in early February.
In response to the report, the door stopper in query was eliminated to restore rivet injury, however the NTSB discovered no proof that the bolts had been reinstalled.
The panel is a plug in some 737 MAX 9s as an alternative of an extra emergency exit.
That is the second disaster involving Boeing in recent times, after two MAX aircraft crashes that killed 346 individuals.
