Paul Njoroge, who lost his wife, three young children and mother-in-law on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, told a U.S. House panel on 17 July 2019 to scrutinise Boeing and its regulator.
Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 ET-AVJ, the aircraft later lost as Flight 302, takes off from Ben Gurion Airport, Israel, 8 February 2019 (LLBG Spotter, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0) [file photo]
The Boeing 737 MAX 8 crashed minutes after take-off from Addis Ababa on 10 March 2019, on its way to Nairobi, killing all 157 people on board. It followed the crash of another 737 MAX, Lion Air Flight 610, in Indonesia in October 2018, which killed all 189 aboard. Aviation authorities around the world grounded the jet in mid-March.
Investigators have implicated an anti-stall system in both crashes, CNBC reported. Boeing has developed a software fix that makes the system less aggressive and gives pilots more control. Regulators had not said when the plane would fly again.
“I miss their laughter, their playfulness, their touch,” Njoroge said of his family in written testimony to the House aviation subcommittee. “I am empty. I feel that I should have been on that plane with them. My life has no meaning.”
Njoroge, who was born in Kenya and lives in Canada, urged lawmakers to hear from Boeing engineers and whistleblowers, whom the panel had not yet questioned. The hearing, the subcommittee’s third on the crashes, also heard from union officials representing pilots, mechanics and flight attendants.
Earlier in July, Boeing pledged $100 million to help families and communities affected by the two crashes. Just before the hearing, it said half of that would go to direct financial relief and that it had hired Kenneth Feinberg, who ran the compensation fund for victims of the 9/11 attacks. Njoroge dismissed the moves as publicity. “Boeing has never reached out to families about the impossible sorrow and grief we will carry for our entire lives,” he said.
Asked about his remarks, Boeing said it was “deeply sorry for the impact to the families and loved ones of those on board.”
Njoroge also asked Congress to review the relationship between the manufacturer and the Federal Aviation Administration, which lets company employees help certify Boeing’s own planes. “The FAA surrenders too much of its authority to Boeing,” he said. “The credibility of the U.S. aviation system, and perhaps Boeing itself, cannot survive a third crash.”
Sources: CNBC