Boeing boss refuses to discuss Turkish Airlines crash with Dutch authorities

David Calhoun, the chief executive of plane manufacturer Boeing, will not come to the Netherlands to discuss the crash of a Turkish Airlines 737 near Schiphol in 2009 with the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, according to a letter from Boeing that ANP has in its possession.

The Tweede Kamer invited Calhoun for a discussion after reports that the United States pressured the Dutch Safety Board to keep findings about the crash under wraps. The parliamentarians also want to speak to American transport safety board NTSB, the former- and current chairman of the Dutch Safety Board, and professor Sidney Dekker. He carried out part of the investigation, but his findings were largely excluded from the Dutch Safety Board's report, the New York Times reported.

In its letter to the Tweede Kamer, Boeing said that investigation into aviation incidents is crucial for safety and that this requires manufacturers to cooperate well with authorities, according to the news wire. As a technical adviser in the NTSB, Boeing provided extensive technical support to the investigation into the Turkish Airlines disaster, the company said.

Boeing said that it learned that the NTSB will not be coming to The Hague, and as the company follows the NTSB's directions, it will also not visit the Tweede Kamer.