Boeing 737 Max 8

The Boeing and FAA sins in the 737 MAX design and certification program continue to grow in number, severity, and consequence. This may now include criminal charges, as the US DOJ and DOT Inspector General begin investigations with a grand jury, preservation requests and plenty of media hysteria. This is not the first time that a new Boeing airplane program has had incidents caused by poor system safety design and certification, with Boeing and FAA…

Amidst the media reports accompanying the worldwide grounding of the 737 MAX, concluding with the reluctant Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounding, were mentions that the investigative team on the ground in Ethiopia had found “airplane configuration evidence” similar to the Lion Air Flight 610 accident. This evidence, along with the Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADSB) altitude data, were strong enough evidence to indicate the likelihood that the 737 MAX’s new Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS)…

On March 11, 2019, Boeing posted a news release in its online media room (which can be read here). Included were the following two sequential paragraphs: “Safety is a core value for everyone at Boeing and the safety of our airplanes, our customers’ passengers and their crews is always our top priority. The 737 MAX is a safe airplane that was designed, built and supported by our skilled employees who approach their work with the…

An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max8 crashed shortly after takeoff on March 10, 2019, killing all 157 aboard after the pilots reportedly lost control of the new jet on its first flight of the day. An experienced Ethiopian Airlines pilot was at the controls as the airplane took off from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, heading to Nairobi, Kenya. Shortly after takeoff, the crew contacted Air Traffic Control (ATC) to report a problem with the…