Boeing, an aeronautical company based in Washington State, has faced severe ethical and legal issues that have resulted in the untimely deaths of many of its stakeholders: passengers (customers) and pilots (employees). Boeing designs, manufactures, and sells different types of aircraft for commercial and private use, attracting a wide amount of airline companies. One of their latest models is a readaptation of the Boeing 737 series, notably known as the Boeing 737MAX series. Equipped with a more efficient engine system, the newer model saves fuel, flies further, and is quieter, boosting passenger happiness (Boeing, n.d.).

Despite the sustainable successes that Boeing achieved and high purchase rates among airlines, tragedy stuck in 2018 and 2019 when two of Boeing’s 737 MAX aircrafts plunged from the sky shortly after takeoff – one in Indonesia and another in Ethiopia – killing 346 passengers and crew in total. It was a catastrophic failure that didn’t rest on the pilots. Rather, it was a technical issue with the plane that caused the accident. The issue is, pilots were unaware of the new internal system that played a role in the crashes.

The MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System), the mechanism responsible for the crashes, was supposed to compensate for the changes in the placement and size of the newer and larger engines on the 737 MAX; however, this software led to involuntary overcorrections in the pitch and angle-of-attack sensors, resulting in a pitch-down maneuver towards the ground, even after attempts to correct the pitch manually (Herkert, Borenstein, & Miller, 2020). Additionally, pilots were unaware of this internalized system. Boeing’s shortcuts to prioritize speed over safety caused multiple casualties, including lack of training for pilots on the MCAS system and non-updated manuals. This minimized Boeing’s short-term costs to maximize earnings from the 737 MAX (George, 2024).

With these ethical and legal failures, it also led to negative consumer perceptions of Boeing. Once respected for their safety and reputation, passengers’ trust of the aeronautical company sunk. Travelers began to avoid flights on the 737 MAX until any issues were resolved. (On a personal note, I too avoided flying Boeing aircraft due to safety concerns and mainly used Airbus for flights. Now that most of Boeing’s issues have been resolved, I have been more open to flying on Boeing aircraft again.) If it hasn’t gotten any worse, Boeing even flipped the script and blamed victims instead of taking accountability, blaming the crashes on the pilots operating the 737 MAX aircrafts (Touirs, 2023).

Boeing, a company that has now faced lawsuits, further issues, and negative consumer perceptions in the past 5-10 years, should have remained within the ethical and legal bounds of their actions. They traded in customer safety for short-term profits, resulting in families being torn apart. At the very minimum, Boeing should have taken the initiative to be transparent with pilots and train them the usage and interactions with the MCAS system. Additionally, a culture where employees could raise concerns about mechanical and technical unsureness without retaliation should be fostered internally and externally, which would boost consumer perceptions of Boeing while also critically assessing the systems that are placed into their aircrafts and working to ensure the proper training and processes are followed.

Bibliography

Boeing. (n.d.). 737 MAX. Retrieved from Boeing: https://www.boeing.com/commercial/737max

George, B. (2024, January 24). Why Boeing’s Problems with the 737 MAX Began More Than 25 Years Ago. Retrieved from Harvard Business School: https://www.library.hbs.edu/working-knowledge/why-boeings-problems-with-737-max-began-more-than-25-years-ago

Herkert, J., Borenstein, J., & Miller, K. (2020, July 10). The Boeing 737 MAX: Lessons for Engineering Ethics. Retrieved from National Library of Medicine: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7351545/

Touirs, B. B. (2023). Boeing Co: Ethical Failures and Business Scandals. Journal of Global Awareness, 8.