Boeing Co. on Thursday released hundreds of internal messages containing harshly critical comments about the development of the 737 Max, including one that said the plane was "designed by clowns who in turn are supervised by monkeys."
The messages also show attempts to duck regulatory scrutiny and employees ridiculing the plane, the company, the Federal Aviation Administration and foreign aviation regulators.
In an instant messaging exchange on Feb. 8, 2018 — when the aircraft was already in the air, and eight months before the first of two fatal crashes — one employee asks another, "Would you put your family on a MAX simulator trained aircraft? I wouldn't."