The unions for American Airlines' flight attendants and pilots say they are worried about the safety of the 737 Max after "alarming" testimony from Boeing's CEO before Congress this week.
The flight attendants' union chief, Lori Bassani, said she has concerns over "serious breakdowns in the supervision of the Boeing 737 Max" after hearing Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg testify.
The Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which represents 28,000 workers at American Airlines, sent a letter to Muilenburg Thursday with her worries and is joining a growing group of critical workers who could soon have to fly on the beleaguered 737 Max.
"The 28,000 flight attendants working for American Airlines refuse to walk onto a plane that may not be safe and are calling for the highest possible safety standards to avoid another tragedy," Bassani said in the letter. "Our lives are not for sale."
Dennis Tajer, a spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association that represents American Airlines pilots, said Muilenburg's testimony was concerning to those flying planes, too.
"There were areas that were alarming and another crack on the fragile glass of this company," said Tajer, a 737 Max captain for American Airlines. "It's clear that the certification system failed. It failed for Boeing and it failed for the FAA."
Tajer also took issue with Muilenburg's comments that training is only needed for pilots to fly the airplane, not to diagnose problems. Boeing employees lobbied the Federal Aviation Administration to remove mentions of the MCAS system from pilot training manuals.
"(Muilenburg) said sometimes less information in the manual is more safe," Tajer said. "He's wrong on that."
The Allied Pilots Association wants information on the 737 Max recertification in a quicker fashion from Boeing and the FAA, Tajer said.
In nearly eight hours of testimony before both chambers of Congress, Muilenburg said that the company made mistakes in designing the Max's troubled MCAS system that is blamed for crashes that took 346 lives in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
Boeing's leader took heat over when the plane maker knew about problems with the MCAS system, a software program meant to compensate for engine size and design changes on the 737 model. In the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashes, the MCAS system malfunctioned due to a bad sensor.
Southwest Airlines pilot Mark Forkner is becoming a critical figure in the ongoing investigation into the crashes and certification of the Boeing 737 Max planes � even if he has remained out of sight.
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Fort Worth-based American Airlines is the second-largest U.S. owner of Boeing 737 Max jets with 24. Dallas-based Southwest is the largest worldwide with 34. Both airlines have reported hundreds of cancellations and nearly $1 billion in losses due to the grounding of the 737 Max.
American has said it is putting its pilots at the front of its "return to service" committee for the Max and that it will rely on the endorsement of the pilots to ensure the flying public that the aircraft is safe to fly again.
"APA and APFA play a vital role in the return of the Max," said American spokesman Ross Feinstein. "We continue to work closely with both unions throughout the recertification process."
American has taken the 737 Max off of schedules until Jan. 16. Southwest doesn't think it will fly until at least Feb. 8, although Southwest CEO Gary Kelly has expressed skepticism that it will be ready to fly even then.
American crew members are not the only employees concerned about the 737 Max returning to the skies. The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association is suing Boeing for more than $100 million in damages.
A spokesman for Boeing said Muilenburg has received the flight attendants union's letter and will respond soon.
"We are committed to providing flight attendants, pilots and our airline customers the information they need so we can re-earn their trust and that of the traveling public that counts on them," said Boeing spokesman Gordon Johndroe. "We continue to work on updates to the Max as it goes through a rigorous oversight process for certification by the FAA."
Johndroe said Boeing has invited flight attendants to 737 Max simulator sessions. Southwest flight attendants were at a session in the spring, he said. Boeing will be inviting American flight attendants to a simulator session soon, Johndroe said.
