Chief Engineer and Executive Vice President, Engineering, Test & Technology, Boeing
Search every verified Howard Mckenzie interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Howard McKenzie, Boeing's chief engineer and executive vice president of Engineering, Test & Technology, testified before the Senate Homeland Security Committee in June 2024. During the hearing, McKenzie stated that the two Boeing 737 MAX crashes were caused by a design error, specifically citing an error with the MCAS system. He said that Boeing has since implemented structural changes to the engineering function, including aligning it into one organization and creating a system of design practices to codify technical lessons. Regarding the January 2024 Alaska Airlines door plug incident, McKenzie stated that the issue was a manufacturing error and that the engineering design of the door was not implicated. He described Boeing's quality action plan as focused on preventing such manufacturing misses from recurring.
“I can tell you that in the last several years and I speak for the engineering team at Boeing they are extraordinarily focused on safety. We've done several structural changes to the engineering function. We have aligned the engineering function into one organization. We now have the most Engineers that ever um populate...”
“The presumption is that if you're talking specifically about the Max there was specific technical requirements that uh were an error and to resolve those errors we embarked on the design practice discipline structure. The analysis that supported the uh the decisions that were made at the time were an error.”
“There's absolutely a culture of safety first when ever there's an issue or a problem the invariably the very first question we ask is what is the safety determination. We have a system called the continued operational safety program that addresses every single item coming out of our Fleet every day.”
“The door issue uh was an issue in manufacturing and I'm representing engineering the engineering design of the door is not implicated. However uh the the the engineering actions through all of that remain as I explained uh focused on um every learning that comes out from the fleet.”
David Calhoun (CEO, The Boeing Company) and Howard McKenzie (Chief Engineer, The Boeing Company) testify during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing titled "Boeing's Broken Safety Culture: CEO Dave Calhoun Testifies"
During a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing Tuesday, Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) spoke about Boeing's safety standards. Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more: https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=displ…
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