To the Editor:

Re “Boeing’s Problems Are a Lot Bigger Than He Feared” (Business Day, March 6):

The remarks by David L. Calhoun, Boeing’s chief executive, about the failings that led to the 737 Max disasters are disingenuous and hypocritical.

My sister was killed on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. As an M.I.T.-educated aerospace engineer with 30 years’ experience, I view his remarks as an effort to shift blame for Boeing’s troubles.

Mr. Calhoun served on Boeing’s board for the last decade. The board followed a strategy emphasizing profits and stock price. Mr. Calhoun could have raised concerns with his fellow board members. To place the blame exclusively on Dennis A. Muilenburg, his predecessor as chief executive (who does not deserve any relief), is a complete abandonment of the responsibility held by the Boeing board.

Mr. Calhoun also tries to blame foreign pilots, suggesting that the assumption was that they would be trained as adequately as American pilots. This ignores that the 737 Max was marketed as an airplane that would require no additional training from previous models.