“Too Low Terrain” – the seismic shift facing Boeing Commercial Aircraft (part 2 of 3)

It’s estimated that the Lionair and Ethiopian 737-8 MAX accidents cost Boeing US$80Bn in lost or delayed orders, costs, and fines.

Whistle-blowers identified themselves in the public domain and “cultural” issues were cited, with assembly workers reported as feeling pressurised by the production timetables.

The rush to “beat” Airbus’ A320 NEO to market was identified as causing further quality control issues.

There appeared to be public denial from within the Boeing leadership, but what could not be denied was that 346 Boeing stakeholders (customers) had lost their lives.

The pilots were blamed by Boeing leadership, but then it was disclosed that a control augmentation system “MCAS” had been installed on the aircraft to replicate “conventional” 737 flying characteristics.

The Lionair pilots had no idea that the system was installed on the aircraft, nor how to intervene if, and when, a malfunction caused its operation (which it did in both cases and was cited as a primary causal factor).

Congress became involved and resignations followed – as had the grounding of the 737-8 MAX from March 2019 to December 2020.

Then, in January 2024, a door plug blew out of a 737-9 MAX.

Continued in part 3 of 3

Barry Eustance CMgr MCMI
Kotter Change Leader Certified
Principal Consultant – The Sixsess Consultancy
Empowering Clients to Seize Opportunity from Change

(Barry flew globally as a pilot and captain of airline passenger jets for 25 years during his 48 year flying career).

https://sixsess.org