Flight Failures and Financial Cuts: A Timeline of The Boeing 737 MAX Engineering Crisis

The ongoing story of the recent Boeing 737 MAX issues is a warning to engineers of neglect and lack of engineering redundancy. The story begins as early as 2001 when Boeing began to restructure their company and focus on concurrent suppliers for design and manufacturing work. Boeing, over the next 5-10 years, became more of a systems integrator. The more Boeing outsourced to more suppliers, the more issues arose due to configuration management and integrating designs by different companies into a singular system.

As Boeing management continued to focus on cutting costs, engineering and software development was outsourced to lower cost labor pools in India and other countries. Although this may not have led directly to Boeing’s more current issues with the 737 MAX, it does shed light on the emphasis by management to provide shareholder value through cutting costs.

These types of cost cutting initiatives have led to mistakes and corner cutting by companies and teams throughout history. A notable example being NASA’s O-ring seal failure on the Challenger’s STS-51L mission.

Here is the timeline of major events in the recent and ongoing Boeing 737 MAX failure:

October 29, 2018: Lion Air Flight 610 crashes into the Java Sea 13 minutes after takeoff from Jakarta, Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board. This was the first crash involving a Boeing 737 MAX aircraft​.

March 10, 2019: Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashes six minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing all 157 people on board. This second crash led to the worldwide grounding of all 737 MAX aircraft​.

The Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX crashes were primarily attributed to issues with the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS). This system was designed to enhance pitch stability so that the 737 MAX would handle similarly to previous 737 models. However, the MCAS relied on data from a single angle of attack (AoA) sensor, lacking redundancy. Faulty AoA sensor data erroneously activated the MCAS, pushing the nose down uncontrollably. Boeing designers and management’s decision to prioritize minimal pilot retraining and cost-saving over redundancy and robustness in critical safety systems played a central role in both accidents.

March 13, 2019: The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) joins other global aviation authorities in grounding the Boeing 737 MAX, citing similarities between the two crashes​.

April 2019: The FAA forms an international team to review the safety of the 737 MAX. Boeing cuts its monthly production by nearly 20%​.

May 2020: Boeing resumes 737 MAX production at a "low rate" after a temporary suspension​.

June 2020: Boeing begins a series of flight tests of its redesigned 737 MAX with regulators at the controls​.

Boeing focused on updating their MCAS system to meet FAA compliance by requiring input from both angle of attack (AoA) sensors instead of just one. The company also worked on enhancing the flight control system (giving more control to the pilots) and revised pilot training requirements.

November 18, 2020: The FAA lifts the grounding order, allowing the 737 MAX to fly again after Boeing made necessary changes to the flight control system and pilot training​.

April 2021: Boeing halts 737 MAX deliveries after electrical problems re-ground part of the fleet​.

The electrical problems amounted to insufficient electrical grounding in parts of the cockpit. This oversight in grounding design is yet another issue Boeing has faced as a result of outsourcing design and manufacturing to too many suppliers.

July 2023: The first delivery of the 737 MAX 7 is delayed to 2024 due to ongoing issues​.

August 2023: Boeing identifies a new supplier quality problem involving improperly drilled holes on the aft pressure bulkhead​.

January 5, 2024: An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9, flight number not specified, suffers a cabin panel blowout, leading to an emergency landing. This incident prompted the FAA to ground 171 MAX 9 jets for investigation​.

As the story around the Boeing 737 MAX continues, travel booking companies such as Kayak have provided more prominent filtering options for aircraft model.