CNN host Brianna Keilar asserted Wednesday that the Boeing crash in Ethiopia last week was due in part to Trump’s latest government shutdown in an interview with Michigan Democratic Rep. Kildee.
“So Boeing actually failed to provide a software fix for the flight system in the 737 max 8 until after that October crash,” Keilar said in a question to the Democratic rep.
“There were pilots who looked at that and felt like this was a criminal omission. That was what they thought about this. The software fix, then according to The Wall Street Journal, was supposed to happen in January, and it was delayed because of the government shutdown because the FAA was offline. What’s your reaction to this revelation?”(RELATED: White House Warns Of Another Shutdown As Negotiations Near End)
The article in question ran in The WSJ under the headline “Boeing to Make Key Change in 737 MAX Cockpit Software.” The article asserted that Boeing engineers had expected to push out a software update to the airplanes sometime in January, but it was delayed due to “differences of opinion and technical and engineering issues.”
Instead of the FAA being asleep at the wheel, thousands of safety inspectors and other staff were recalled to ensure that all planes continued to be operated in a safe manner.
The FAA felt the delay was fine due to the fact that there was “no imminent safety threat,” according to the Journal.
The software update, now due in April, is expected to give pilots greater control during an emergency, according to a report.