Aircraft manufacturer Boeing has been in a constant crisis since 2018. 346 passengers died in two 737 Max crashes. So far this has had hardly any criminal consequences – that could now change.
Anyone who gets on an airplane these days may be paying attention for the first time to which manufacturer it is from. Many people are undoubtedly afraid when they sit in a plane from the world market leader Boeing – too many problems, repeated breakdowns. The company has been in a constant crisis since the crashes of two 737 Max jets with 346 deaths more than five years ago.
Boeing has largely been spared criminal consequences in the USA due to the incidents. However, that could soon change: The US Department of Justice concluded that the aircraft manufacturer had violated the terms of an agreement that had previously protected it from prosecution.
Boeing failed to implement a program designed to prevent violations of U.S. fraud laws, as agreed, court documents said Tuesday. The government has said it has not yet decided how it will proceed with the matter.
US justice accuses Boeing of violating rules
Boeing now has a month to officially respond to the allegations. In an initial reaction on Tuesday, the company emphasized that, in its own opinion, it had adhered to the agreement.
A total of 346 people died when two 737-Max aircraft crashed in October 2018 and March 2019. According to investigations, one trigger for the accident was software in the aircraft that was supposed to support pilots, but interfered with the controls more than expected. Boeing came under criticism because the aircraft manufacturer declared that special training for the software was unnecessary when the type was certified by US authorities.
According to the agreement with the US government, Boeing paid a penalty of 243 million dollars (225 million euros). The allegations of fraud in connection with the information provided to the US authorities were not pursued further. However, something like a probationary rule applied with the central requirement that Boeing implement a compliance and ethics program. The Ministry of Justice now emphasized that a violation of this could result in criminal prosecution of the company.
Problems also with Boeing 767
After a disaster similar to that in 2018 and 2019 almost occurred in January of this year, Boeing’s quality supervision is once again the focus. Part of the fuselage of a Boeing 737-9 Max broke off shortly after takeoff. The row of seats above just happened to be unoccupied and the plane was at a relatively low altitude. The incident ended lightly – but is just one example of the company’s massive problems.
The latest faux pas: a plane belonging to the logistics company FedEx had to land on its fuselage at Istanbul Airport on Wednesday last week. According to the airport, the cause was a defect in the front landing gear of the plane. The aircraft affected was a Boeing 767. Fortunately, no one was injured.
Videos of the incident show the Boeing touching down with its main landing gear and then sliding several meters along the runway on the front part of the fuselage. The airport said the front landing gear could not be extended. The error was apparently discovered before landing; the pilot had requested the control tower to land with the fuselage, it was said.
The rescue service and fire department were then dispatched to the runway. Emergency services continued to work on getting the plane off the runway in the morning. There was a hydraulic error in the landing gear, the Turkish radio and television station TRT quoted the Ministry of Transport as saying, referring to a pilot’s statement.
Fake test reports on 737 jets
The incident is one of a number of other breakdowns involving Boeing aircraft. The crashes of the two 737 Max jets over five years ago were followed by a ban on flights in the series lasting more than 20 months. Problems with other models put the US manufacturer far behind its European rival Airbus from March 2019.
When the fuselage part of the 737-9 Max broke off during the flight at the beginning of January 2024, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) finally took action. Initially, machines were no longer allowed to start until a technical inspection was carried out. In addition, the authority is now taking a closer look at the production and control processes.
Problems with Boeing 737 Max
Now the FAA is investigating again: During the construction of some of Boeing’s 787 “Dreamliner” long-haul jet, the connection between the wings and the fuselage was probably not checked. Boeing employees had falsified test reports on the “Dreamliner”. Boeing said that some of the checks on the connection between the fuselage and the wings were omitted but were nevertheless recorded as having been carried out. At the same time, the company emphasized that it was not an urgent safety problem for the current airline fleet and that no aircraft would have to remain on the ground.
Boeing emphasized that it had immediately informed the FAA of the violation. A Boeing employee observed a violation of the audit requirements and informed management, wrote 787 program manager Scott Stocker in an email to the workforce. Boeing then discovered that “several people” at the plant in the US state of South Carolina had not carried out the required tests, but had noted them in the documents as having been completed. The inspections would now have to be carried out unscheduled.
“Starliner” test flight postponed again
The problems at Boeing now extend even further than the Earth’s atmosphere: The first manned test flight of the crisis-plagued spaceship “Starliner” has been postponed further after technical problems. The US space agency Nasa and Boeing announced on Tuesday that the flight could now take off on May 21st at the earliest. Previously, the target was next Friday.
The test flight, which had already been postponed several times, was canceled last week shortly before the planned launch due to abnormalities in an oxygen valve on the “Atlas V” rocket. After a thorough inspection, the decision was made to replace the valve. There was also a problem with a helium leak on the spacecraft. It said further checks would be carried out at the Cape Canaveral spaceport in the US state of Florida.
Death of two whistleblowers
Whistleblowers recently drew attention to the problems at Boeing. First it was former quality manager John Barnett, who worked for years in a 787 Boeing factory. He testified as a witness in court against Boeing until March 2024, and on March 9, 2024 he was found dead with a gunshot wound to the right temple area. According to media reports, investigators assume it was suicide.
He was followed by Joshua Dean, who reported production errors at Boeing supplier Spirit Aerosystems. Now he too has died. According to a Seattle Times report, he had been battling a sudden and aggressive infection for two weeks before he died.
In his role as quality inspector, Dean reported “serious and gross misconduct by the senior quality manager of the 737 production line” at Spirit to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). After his dismissal in April 2023, he filed a grievance, claiming his termination was due to his expressed concerns about flight safety.
Source: Stern
