Boeing appoints retired nuclear submariner to review its airliner business quality control

Global major US aerospace group Boeing has announced that the quality management system in its Boeing Commercial Airplanes business would be reviewed by a team of experts recruited from outside the group. These experts will be led by retired US Navy Admiral Kirkland H Donald, who will report directly to Boeing group president and CEO Dave Calhoun. This step was taken by the company following another major incident with one of its 737 MAX airliners. On January 5, a 737 MAX 9, operated by Alaska Airlines suffered explosive decompression when a deactivated emergency exit door blew out, as it climbed out of Portland, in the US State or Oregon. There were no fatalities, but had the event occurred later in the flight, there could very well have been. Previously, two crashes involving 737 MAX 8s, in 2018 and 2019, killed a total of 346 people. Notoriously, a flawed Boeing flight control system contributed to both crashes.