TULSA, Okla. — Following the ungrounding of the Boeing 737 MAX plane, family of the victims killed aboard the jet denounce Boeing and American Airlines for flying it again.
The 737 MAX returned to the skies on Wednesday, for the first time since the Federal Aviation Administration banned it after two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. 346 people total were killed within five months in 2018 and 2019.
“Most of the families, if not all... certainly, all that I have spoken with, strongly believe that the MAX should never fly again,” said Robert Clifford, lead counsel to the victims’ families of the Ethiopian Airlines crash.
Among those killed in Ethiopia was Michael Stumo’s 24-year-old daughter, Samya. She would be 26-years-old today.
“We follow this plane,” Michael said. “We filed objections to the ungrounding, based upon experts that we’ve relied on saying that this is an unbalanced plane that doesn’t meet air-worthy regulations. It can’t fly in a balanced way without software.”
Boeing's chief executive officer released a statementsaying they will never forget the lives lost in the two accidents, and that the lessons they have learned since have reshaped the company and focused their attention to safety, quality, and integrity.
Attorney Clifford said the Ethiopian Airlines crash litigation is still pending in federal court in Chicago.
A representative with American Airlines told 2 Works for You they currently do not have plans for the Boeing 737 MAX to be flown in and out of Tulsa International Airport and are always reviewing their network and the aircraft that support it.
Andrew Pierini, Director of Air Service Development and Marketing for Tulsa Airports Improvement Trust said, “Airlines haven’t loaded many MAX flights into the schedule as of yet. If we do end up getting the MAX into our scheduled service, it would most likely be on Southwest as it was in the past.”
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