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400 pilots sue Boeing over 737 MAX's 'unprecedented cover-up'

Boeing 737 MAX airplanes sit parked at a Boeing facility adjacent to King County International Airport, known as Boeing Field, on May 31, 2019 in Seattle, Washington. (AFP photo)

American plane manufacturer Boeing has been hit with a class-action lawsuit lodged by more than 400 pilots over what they say is the company's cover-up of design flaws in its 737 Max planes.

According to the suit, Boeing engaged in an "unprecedented cover-up of the known design flaws of the MAX, which predictably resulted in the crashes of two MAX aircraft and subsequent grounding of all MAX aircraft worldwide," the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) reported Saturday.

Court documents the network obtained show that pilots, who were impacted by the decision to ground the aircraft, "suffer and continue to suffer significant lost wages, among other economic and non-economic damages."

The original plaintiff is identified as "pilot X" because of the plaintiff’s "fear of reprisal from Boeing and discrimination from Boeing customers."

The complainant lodged the statement of claim on Friday, seeking millions in damages for colleagues and Boeing customers.

The hearing for the case is scheduled to be held in a court in Chicago on October 21, according to ABC.

More than 300 Boeing 737 MAX planes were grounded globally following the two deadly crashes that left 346 people dead.

An Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX en route from Addis Ababa to the Kenyan capital of Nairobi crashed a few minutes after take-off on March 10, killing all 157 people, mostly foreign nationals, on board.

A 737 MAX passenger jet crashed five months earlier on October 29, 2018 into the Java Sea in Indonesia, killing 189 people.

The American company last month acknowledged that it had to correct flaws in its 737 MAX flight simulator software used to train pilots.

However, it did not say when it first realized there was a problem, and whether it notified regulators of the matter.


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