Boeing has implemented changes among its top engineering team as it works to deal with the fallout of two recent crashes and subsequent grounding of the 737 Max 8.

John Hamilton has been named chief engineer, whereas previously he was both a vice-president and chief engineer. In his changed role, he will focus on the crash investigations into Lion Air flight JT610, which crashed on 29 October 2018, and Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302, which crashed on 10 March.

"In this capacity, Hamilton is responsible for bringing the necessary engineering resources and capabilities together from across the company to work through the major accident investigations and other technical risks impacting Commercial Airplanes products and businesses," says the company's website.

The twin disasters claimed a total of 346 lives, with the Ethiopian crash sparking a global grounding of the world’s 737 Max fleet.

Lynne Hopper has also moved to the vice-president of engineering role, having previously led Boeing Test & Evaluation.

Until the middle of 2013, says the Boeing site, Hamilton was the vice-president/chief project engineer for the 737 programme. This position covered design integrity, strategy, and compliance with Boeing and regulatory standards.

Source: Cirium Dashboard