President Donald Trump and Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg talked each other on telephone Tuesday, after Trump’s tweet about how flying has become too complicated, according to two sources knowledgeable about the matter.
Muilenburg has appeared alongside Trump several times during the first two years of his presidency.
“Airplanes are becoming far too complex to fly. Pilots are no longer needed, but rather computer scientists from MIT. I see it all the time in many products. Always seeking to go one unnecessary step further, when often old and simpler is far better,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
“Split second decisions are needed, and the complexity creates danger. All of this for great cost yet very little gain. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want Albert Einstein to be my pilot. I want great flying professionals that are allowed to easily and quickly take control of a plane!” he added.
Trump’s tweets come days following the incident in which a Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane crashed, the second time in months that the new airplane model has wrecked minutes after takeoff, killing everyone on board. The crashes have raised concerns about the role of a new software system installed on the plane, however investigators have yet to reach a conclusion about the cause.
The officials did not provide details of their conversation, but both confirmed the call to CNN.
The White House has not responded CNN’s request for comment.
The similar circumstances of both collisions have led several nations and airlines to ground the 737 MAX 8 planes, but regardless of growing calls from US lawmakers to do the same — and Trump’s tweet on Tuesday morning –, the Federal Aviation Administration has yet do the same thing.
Trump’s tweet, though, cast aspersions on more than just the 737 MAX 8’s potentially defective new anti-stall system that may have caused the nose of both planes to
It’s the first known discusison between the Boeing CEO and the US President since the most recent plane crash.
