Joshua Dean, a 45-year-old former quality auditor at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems who had raised safety concerns about 737 MAX manufacturing defects, died suddenly after contracting a severe MRSA infection. Dean had been in good health and was known for maintaining a healthy lifestyle, making …
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The Boeing 737 MAX scandal represents the deadliest case of regulatory capture and corporate crime in modern aviation history. Between 2011 and 2024, Boeing’s decision to prioritize profit over safety killed 346 people, cost $2.5 billion in fines, and resulted in zero criminal prosecutions of …
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A door plug blew out of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, a Boeing 737 MAX 9, at 16,000 feet during climb six minutes after takeoff from Portland, Oregon. The explosive decompression ripped the door plug from the fuselage, leaving a gaping hole in the aircraft. Miraculously, all 171 passengers and 6 crew …
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The Department of Justice charged Boeing with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States in connection with the 737 MAX evaluation and entered a deferred prosecution agreement requiring Boeing to pay $2.5 billion in penalties. Despite evidence that Boeing executives knowingly deceived the …
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The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure released its final 238-page report on the Boeing 737 MAX disasters, concluding that the crashes “were the horrific culmination of a series of faulty technical assumptions by Boeing’s engineers, a lack of transparency on the part of …
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Boeing released hundreds of internal messages to Congressional investigators and the FAA on January 9, 2020, revealing that employees knew the 737 MAX was unsafe, mocked regulators, and conspired to deceive certification authorities. In one April 2017 exchange, just before the aircraft’s first …
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Boeing’s Board of Directors fired CEO Dennis Muilenburg on December 23, 2019, over his handling of the 737 MAX crisis that killed 346 people in two crashes. Despite presiding over the deadliest corporate safety scandal in aviation history, Muilenburg departed with approximately $62 million in …
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The Federal Aviation Administration finally grounded the Boeing 737 MAX on March 13, 2019, three days after the Ethiopian Airlines crash and only after 51 other countries had already banned the aircraft. China acted first on March 11, followed by Indonesia, Singapore, India, the European Union, …
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Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a Boeing 737 MAX 8, crashed six minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing all 157 people aboard from 35 countries. The crash was caused by the same MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System) malfunction that downed Lion Air Flight 610 five …
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Boeing delivered its first 737 MAX 8 aircraft to Malaysian carrier Malindo Air on May 16, 2017, entering revenue service on May 22. The delivery occurred despite internal Boeing communications showing employees knew the aircraft had serious safety problems, including design flaws in the MCAS system …
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Boeing accelerated 737 MAX development to a “frenetic” pace during 2015, attempting to deliver the aircraft in approximately four years instead of the decade typically required for new aircraft development. The rushed timeline came as Boeing fell nine months behind Airbus’s …
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In August 2013, Ali Bahrami, who led the FAA office overseeing Boeing aircraft certification, departed to join the Aerospace Industries Association. This move epitomizes regulatory capture, as Bahrami had been instrumental in pushing for increased industry self-regulation. Former FAA engineers …
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Boeing’s Board of Directors approved the launch of the re-engined 737 MAX on August 30, 2011, abandoning plans to develop an entirely new aircraft design. The decision came after Airbus launched the A320neo in December 2010 and captured 1,029 orders by June 2011, including a historic defection …
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