Boeing 737 Max-8: Design Choices and Their Consequences
Mohammed Laeequddin
Indian Institute of Management Bodh Gaya, India
Ramkrishna Dikkatwar
Symbiosis International (Deemed) University, Nagpur Campus, India
Volume 15: 2021, pp. 83-116; ABSTRACT
Two Boeing 737 Max-8 airplanes crashed, killing 346 people between October 2018 and March 2019. On March 27, 2019, a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 Max-8 had to make an emergency landing in Orlando, Florida, after experiencing an engine problem. Some technical analyses and evidence concluded an issue with a Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS). Reliable secondary sources attributed many reasons for the MCAS failure, including Boeing’s operations, speed of competing with Airbus, quick fixing design, poor integration between mechanical systems and computer software, not communicating the changes to the pilots and other stakeholders, and fast-tracking the certification process. Boeing 737 Max-8 failures could be attributed to Boeing’s approach to competing with Airbus, design changes in 737 models, and consequences of the design changes or simply a communication gap rather than a potential design or manufacturing flaw. What really went wrong with the Boeing 737 Max-8 airplanes? After the events, the question mostly remained unanswered.
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