Boeing’s Max Crisis Takes Another Costly Turn
Its about-face on simulator training should be a wake-up call for investors thinking the days of booming cash flow and buybacks will return.
Flight simulators are the right call, even if they won’t come cheap.
Photographer: Joe McNally/Getty Images North AmericaThe good news is, Boeing Co. is starting to do the right things. The bad news is, it’s going to be expensive.
The airplane maker on Tuesday said it would recommend pilots undergo flight-simulator training on its 737 Max before the embattled plane returns to service, reversing its previous stance that computer-based education would be sufficient. The Max has been grounded since March following the second of two fatal crashes that were triggered by a flight-control software system added to counter the aerodynamic impact of larger, more fuel-efficient engines than those on previous models. The about-face on training amounts to a concession that the Max was in fact fundamentally different than earlier 737s and that pilots weren’t properly informed of or prepared to deal with its features – despite Boeing’s repeated efforts to argue otherwise in the initial certification process and throughout the Max crisis.