Transcript of interview of Michael Teal, vice president/chief project engineer of the MAX program, under the auspices of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, U. S. House of Representatives. May 11, 2020,
148 pp.
https://transportation.house.gov/imo...20(9.9.20).pdf
Some apropos quotes.
(Mathew Weisman, Counsel, (House) Investigations and Oversight staff) Q: ....during the MAX certification process, which was from roughly 2012 to March of 2017, what was your title and what were your responsibilities related to the MAX program?
A: I was the vice president/chief project engineer of the MAX program, responsible for the requirements, the configuration, the design, the testing, the certification and overseeing of any issues in the build process, mainly the engineering work.
Q: And during that time, roughly how many people reported directly to you?
A: As the chief project engineer at The Boeing Company, no employees actually report to me. So, at one time, I think I had an OA that was working for me, an administrator, but no engineers directly report to me. They all are functionally aligned to the engineering leaders of the company.
Q: So can you explain to us how that management structure worked? Like, how would you oversee the work that was being done if no one reported directly to you?
A: So the structure of the program, we had a chief -- so I was the chief project engineer. And then, for example, all of the systems engineers worked for the systems integrated product team leader; all the structural engineers worked for the structural IPT leader; had a propulsion IPT leader; integration team leader; as well as an interiors team leader.
So all the engineers reported up through those five skills. They reported up through a director of engineering and reported to the program manager. And then I reported to the program manager as well.
Q: And who was the program manager to whom you reported?
A: In the beginning of the program, it was a gentleman named (redacted). I believe it was in 2013 - I can't exactly know the exact date - he left the program and was replaced by Keith Leverkuhn.
Q: Okay. And roughly how many people are involved in the MAX program?
A: From an engineering - of the Boeing engineers involved, around 1,500 engineers, approximately. But then throughout the supply chain, you know, CFM, the engine company, I had, you know, probably a thousand engineers. And then suppliers around the world had hundreds and hundreds of engineers. I don't have an exact number for you.
(GOP minority counsel Corey Cooke) Q: Okay. So during development of the 737 MAX, was it your understanding that MCAS was capable of activating repeatedly?
A: I had no knowledge that MCAS had a repeat function in it during the development.
Q: Why would you not have known that?
A: That is a technical detail that would be the technical leaders well below my level would have gone into that level of detail. So we have organizations down in the stability and control and flight controls working with the pilots. They would go into the details of the requirements for any particular function. My exposure to it would've been simply the team coming forward and saying we need a new function called MCAS, Maneuver Characteristic Augmentation System, on the airplane to pass certification requirements. That's the detail I would have gotten into.
Q: Would they have provided you with a description that would have described how and when it would operate, and would that description potentially have included that it would activate repeatedly in some circumstances?
A: I would not get into that level of detail.