January 8th 2024.
Officials have been inspecting the engine of a crashed Lion Air jet from 2018, and the aviation world has been reacting with concern after a mid-air incident occurred last week and forced a Boeing to carry out an emergency landing. This is not the first time Boeing’s jets have been in the public eye for the wrong reasons, and now, 171 out of the 218 737 Max 9 jets have been grounded due to the incident.
An investigation is currently being conducted to discover the cause of this incident, but the 737 is no stranger to controversy. In October of 2018, the Lion Air flight 610 crashed into the Java Sea 13 minutes after takeoff, killing all 189 passengers and crew on board. This was the first major accident involving the new 737 Max, and had the highest death toll of any accident or incident involving a 737-series aircraft.
The American Federal Aviation Administration announced in November of 2018 that, alongside Boeing, they were investigating whether the plane’s software or design needed to be changed following the Lion Air crash. This was followed by the Ethiopian Airlines crash in March of 2019, where the plane crashed six minutes after takeoff near the town of Bishoftu, killing all 157 people on board. This incident caused the FAA and other countries to ground the Max planes.
In April of 2019, the FAA formed an international team to review the 737 Max’s safety. Boeing cut its monthly production by nearly 20%, and eventually posted its largest-ever quarterly loss in July of 2019. Their board of directors created a permanent safety committee to oversee the development, manufacturing, and operation of their aircraft, and two months later, the company fired their CEO, Dennis Muilenburg.
In January of 2020, Boeing stopped producing its 737 jets, the biggest assembly-line halt in more than 20 years. After a series of long-delayed flight tests with regulators at the controls, and an 18-month investigation by a U.S. House of Representatives panel, the FAA lifted its grounding order in November of 2020.
US Congress passed new legislation in December of 2020 to reform how the FAA certifies new airplanes, including requiring manufacturers to disclose certain safety-critical information to the FAA. Boeing resumed producing 737 Max jets at a ‘low rate’ in May of 2020, and then in March of 2021, China’s aviation regulator said there were major safety concerns with the Max which needed to be ‘properly addressed’ before conducting flight tests.
In April of 2021, Boeing halted 737 Max deliveries after electrical problems forced part of the fleet to be grounded again. Current and former Boeing company directors reached a $237.5 million settlement with shareholders to settle lawsuits over safety oversight of the 737 Max in November of 2021. In October and December of 2022, the FAA told Boeing that some key documents submitted as part of the certification review of the 737 Max 7 were incomplete and others needed a reassessment.
Boeing paused deliveries of some 737 Maxs in April of 2023 to deal with a new supplier quality problem. In July of 2023, their first delivery of the 737 Max 7 was delayed until 2024, and in August, they identified a new 737 Max supplier quality problem. Boeing made their first direct delivery of a 787 Dreamliner to China since 2019 in December of 2023, and this could potentially lead to China unfreezing deliveries of the 737 Max.
On January 5, 2024, a plane was forced to conduct an emergency landing after a panel blowout on a brand new 737 Max 9 plane. The FAA grounded certain Max 9 aircraft for safety checks. This incident is yet another example of Boeing’s chequered past, and it will be interesting to see what happens next.
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