Boeing Co is taking steps to reduce aviation safety risks after two 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019. The company is deploying experienced pilots to airlines that are training their employees to fly Boeing aircraft. A total of 125 so-called “flight operations representatives” worked with more than 60 airlines in 2022. Boeing Chief Safety Officer Mike Delaney said that while it’s up to aviation regulators to ensure airlines are ready to operate new aircraft types, having Boeing pilots on the ground allows the company to address practices that may be concerning.
Boeing is also rolling out its second annual safety report, required by a 2021 legal settlement over the 737 MAX crashes. The company has developed a machine learning algorithm in partnership with the Federal Aviation Administration, which scours “service difficulty reports” that describes aircraft system malfunctions and identifies trends in the data.
The company is also looking to recruit additional flight operations representatives – mostly former retired airline pilots with more than 13,000 flight hours under their belt. However, airlines’ demand for training is high, and the older age of Boeing’s pool of existing representatives leads to natural challenges in recruiting and retaining a workforce.
Boeing is taking steps to ensure aviation safety and reduce the risk of future accidents. The company is deploying experienced pilots to airlines, rolling out its second annual safety report, and developing a machine learning algorithm to identify trends in aircraft system malfunctions.