Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg said the company’s executives would be among the first to fly on the company’s 737 planes once they begin making flights again in the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Chicago, according to CNN.
After observing a moment of silence for nearly 350 people killed in two recent 737 crashes, Muilenburg said the company is prioritizing safety and pledged that once Boeing can resolve the automatic safety feature suspected of contributing to the crashes, the remodeled 737 would be the safest plane in the air, according to CNN.
{mosads}He added that the aviation company is nearing a software fix and has completed about 245 hours of air time for the 737 Max with the updated software. He also said he has flown on two such test flights.
Muilenburg said Boeing executives will be part of the first 737 Max commercial flights when the model returns to the air, according to CNN.
“It will include me and many others,” he said. “This is a really important part in showing our confidence in our product. Our Boeing employees are very supportive of doing that.”
“We don’t have to have 300-plus people die every time to find out something is unreliable,” one shareholder reportedly told Muilenburg, according to Newsweek. “It never should have happened that you had one easily damaged sensor that controlled a critical new design safety feature in the plane. That should have gone through some sort of internal review or something to check that sort of thing out.”
In response, Muilenburg insisted production for the 737 was not rushed, according to CNN, saying the plane went through a six-year development process and that safety remained the company’s “top priority.”
The safety feature believed to have contributed to the crashes forces down the nose of a plan when sensors detect it is ascending too quickly.
Experts believe the sensor gave pilots false readings on the two flights.