Boeing engineer claims production for 737 Max model 'not adequately funded'

A former Boeing engineer claimed that the production of the controversial model 737 Max was not adequately funded.

In an interview with the BBC, Adam Dickson, who had worked at Boeing for 30 years, said he led a team of engineers working on the 737 Max and claimed that he was always pressured to keep costs down and downplay new features.

He said they had to classify new features as minor changes and not major ones which could result in scrutiny from regulators and maybe a higher budget for the training of pilots among other things.

"Certainly what I saw was a lack of sufficient resources to do the job in its entirety," he said.

"The culture was very cost centred, incredibly pressurised. Engineers were given targets to get certain amount of cost out of the aeroplane."

"The goal was to show that those differences were so similar to the previous design that it would not require a major design classification in the certification process. There was a lot of interest and pressure on the certification and analysis engineers in particular, to look at any changes to the Max as minor changes."

The airplane model is currently grounded globally after two disastrous crashes that killed all 346 passengers onboard.

"My family won't fly on a 737 Max. It's frightening to see such a major incident because of a system that didn't function properly or accurately,” Dickinson added.

Boeing denies the claims and says it's committed to making the 737 Max one of the safest aircraft ever to take to the skies.