Boeing’s 737 Max Returns To Skies

Boeing’s 737 Max has returned to the skies.

American Airlines flight 718 took off at about 7:30 A.M. Pacific time, from Miami to New York. It’s scheduled to turn around and fly back to Miami, and make the same daily route through January 6th.

It’s a big moment for one of our area’s biggest employers.

The emotion crackled in the voice of the pilot this morning. “My wife is on board. First Officer Maldonado’s mother is on board. I just want to say, thank you to all of you for putting your trust in all of us,” he said in a message to the passengers.

He wasn’t the only one feeling the importance of the moment.
About 80,000 people in the Pacific Northwest work for Boeing, including hundreds at a Gresham plant that makes parts for the 737 Max.

The company and the F-A-A see this flight as a move to boost public confidence in the jet, after two crashes that killed hundreds of people and caused regulators to ground the plane for 21 months.

Boeing says it’s fixed the technical issues linked to the crashes, and retrained pilots.

Eric Oland supervised the mechanics who installed the software updates in the cockpit. He insists the jet is safe. “Absolutely. We would not let this airplane leave if it wasn’t safe and ready to fly. I personally feel safe about it, my family’s flown on the airplane, they’ll fly on it again in the next couple weeks. And we’re really excited to be on board again.”

This comes almost two years, after crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, which investigators connected to a faulty flight-control system.