When Ethics Fail: Lessons from Boeing Crashes for Aircraft Maintainers

     Being able to trust your life with the pilots and maintainers of the aircrafts you ride in has been becoming more and more difficult. Over the past couple of years, there are videos after videos showing both commercial and military aircrafts falling from the sky and parts breaking off, resulting in people getting hurt or even dying. In October 2018 and March 2019, 2 separate Boeing 737 Max's crashed that killed 346 people total due to the mistakes made by manufactures and engineers (Kesslen, B.). After these crashes, Boeing was put into a 3-year probationary period to avoid criminal charges but toward the end of this period, a door unexpectedly blew off of a Boeing plane during takeoff, so the DOJ resumed prosecution against Boeing. However, the DOJ and Boeing just reached a settlement agreement where Boeing would pay 1.1 billion dollars in fees and to the victims' families to put an end to the cases brought against them (Rabinowitz, H). 

The House Committee said its 239-page report, with more than 70 investigative findings, reveals “repeated and serious failures” by both Boeing and the FAA.

    It almost seems unfair that massive companies like Boeing face almost no repercussions or the people responsible for the mistakes that cost innocent people their lives don't get prosecuted for their actions. Though they did have to pay over a billion dollars, no one will be investigated further which allows for mistakes like these to continue to happen. With events like this happening, people are way more hesitant to book plane tickets and trust in Boeing aircraft specifically which make up almost half of the commercial aircrafts in the US. 

    For this reason, it's important for current and future aircraft maintainers to take a step back and reflect on the mistakes Boeing has made. In order to move forward and regain the trust of passengers, we must learn how to prevent these fatal mistakes from happening again and proceed with caution when fixing any aircraft. Engineers and maintainers have a responsibility to work in a way that is ethical such as being professional and transparent (Maintainer Nation.). Allowing yourself to be humble, listening and taking the advice of others, respecting those around you and upholding a high maintenance standard are key aspect of being an ethical maintainer in the aviation industry. It's important to have and maintain these characteristics so build trust with those you work with and the passengers riding of the planes you're fixing. 

     It's easy to get caught up in the work and get lazy with repetitive tasks but maintainers can't get lazy because people trust them with their lives whenever they get on a plane. This isn't to be taken lightly, as we hold the responsibilities as maintainers to earn and keep their trust. This can be intimidating but should be prioritize as it is literally a maintainers job to fix aircrafts, so they make it their destination without issue. 

Citations:

Kesslen, B. (2020, September 16). 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 were “horrific culmination” of failures by Boeing and FAA, House Report says. NBCNews.com. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/737-max-crashes-killed-346-were-horrific-culmination-failures-boeing-n1240192

Maintainer Nation. (2024, July 20). Integrity, ethics, quality work for Aircraft Mechanics. Maintainer Nation. https://www.maintainernation.com/integrity-ethics-quality-work-for-aircraft-mechanics/

Rabinowitz, H. (2025, May). Boeing to pay $1.1 billion as part of deal to settle 737 Max crash cases with DOJ. MSN. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/boeing-to-pay-11-billion-as-part-of-deal-to-settle-737-max-crash-cases-with-doj/ar-AA1Fnkj4?ocid=BingNewsVerp