did they Know and should have known? You could make a case that Boeing as a corporation did not actually know of the conversation between two of its senior pilots until a few months ago. However, that won't deflect the barracuda lawyers from tearing Boeing apart.
- If two of your pilots say there is a problem, then Boeing should have known about it. It's as simple as that/ How do test pilots find something seriously wrong, but Boeing doesn't know?? And let's say Beoing did not know for years. That is worse from a certification standpoint than lying about it. At least if they lied, there would be some baseline truth to appeal to. If they simply did not know, then we have no idea what else they missed or how they missed it.
- The delay of months between finding the texts and passing them on to the FAA is going to hurt big time. How do you not immediately pass on critical information about a system, when that system is under the microscpe for killing hundreds? The FAA will now go back and ask Boeing to check all their files again. This will take a LOT of time and meetings.