Why The Boeing 737 Max Has Been Such A Mess

Five years ago, 346 people were killed in two plane crashes that happened five months apart, in Indonesia and Ethiopia. Both were Boeing 737 Max 8 planes. Then, this past January, Boeing came inches from yet another catastrophe as a door plug blew off an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 plane at 16,000 feet shortly after taking off from Portland, Oregon. Preliminary reports said the door panel that flew off the Max 9 appeared to be missing four key bolts.

The Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into the Alaska Airlines incident. And the Federal Aviation Administration said it found dozens of problems after auditing Boeing’s manufacturing process.

While Boeing and the FAA have responded more aggressively to the Max 9 issue, the FAA production audit found multiple instances where both Boeing and fuselage maker Spirit Aerosystems allegedly failed to comply with manufacturing quality control problems.

Boeing announced major management changes including CEO Dave Calhoun, who was brought in to get the company out of the max crisis in 2019, just announced he’ll be stepping down at the end of 2024.

CNBC explores how the 737 Max crisis unfolded and what the future holds for Boeing’s best selling jet.

Chapters:
2:22 Evolution of the Boeing 737
5:42 Missing bolts
9:36 A merger and a shift
11:09 What’s next?

Produced, Shot and Edited by: Erin Black
Supervising Producer: Jeniece Pettitt
Animations: Jason Reginato
Editorial Support: Leslie Josephs
Additional Production: Katie Tarasov

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Why The Boeing 737 Max Has Been Such A Mess