(NewsNation) — After a series of high-profile safety events, including a door plug that came flying off a plane midair, the executive who runs Boeing’s 737 Max program is out, effective immediately.
Boeing made the announcement about its commercial planes division change Wednesday morning in a memo to employees. The memo announced Vice President Ed Clark, who ran the 737 Max program, is no longer with the company.
Clark was also the general manager of the Renton, Washington, production facility where the planes were made and prepared to be shipped off to airlines.
“Ed Clark is leaving the company and departs with … our deepest gratitude for his significant contributions over nearly 18 years of dedicated service to Boeing,” the memo read.
Clark’s departure can’t be separated from the intense scrutiny Boeing has faced since a Jan. 5 Alaska Airlines flight where a door plug came flying out as the plane was over Portland, Oregon.
The plane landed safely, but since then, the CEO of Boeing has been in Washington, D.C., on Capitol Hill trying to assuage concerns from members of Congress.
He says that Boeing’s planes are safe, but in recent weeks, the National Transportation Safety Board released preliminary findings that essentially implicated Boeing. The NTSB found that the door plug had come into the Renton production facility for some work, and the bolts that were supposed to hold it in place were never put back when the work was done.
The Federal Aviation Administration is also investigating Boeing and its quality control. The agency is still about a week away from the end of its audit, so new details about Boeing may be revealed.