#Lawsuits By Families

[xtruss]

What Has Happened to Boeing Since the 737 Max Crashes

— By Priyanka Boghani and Kaela Malig | March 13, 2024

A still from "Boeing's Fatal Flaw," a new FRONTLINE Documentary with The New York Times.

Five years ago, 346 people were killed in two crashes involving Boeing 737 Max planes within the span of almost five months: first off the coast of Indonesia in October 2018 and then in Ethiopia in March 2019.

Boeing’s Fatal Flaw, a 2021 FRONTLINE investigation with The New York Times, examined how commercial pressures, flawed design and failed oversight contributed to those devastating tragedies and a catastrophic crisis at one of the world’s most iconic industrial names.

In recent months, Boeing has come under renewed scrutiny after a door-like panel on a Boeing 737 Max 9 operated by Alaska Airlines blew off just a few minutes after takeoff in January 2024. An updated version of our documentary examines the impact of this latest crisis.

“This was supposed to be one of the most highly scrutinized planes in the world. And here you are with another incident that was risking passengers’ lives,” the Times’ Sydney Ember says in the updated documentary.

Here we take a brief look at what has happened to Boeing since the deadly 2018 and 2019 crashes and the recent Alaska Airlines incident.

Change in Leadership

Dennis Muilenburg had been CEO of Boeing since 2015. In the aftermath of the crashes, he testified before U.S. Senate and House Committees in October 2019, acknowledging the fatal accidents happened “on my watch” and saying he and the company were accountable. He told the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, “If we knew back then what we know now, we would have grounded [the 737 Max] right after the first accident.”

Two months after the congressional hearings, on Dec. 23, 2019, Muilenburg was fired by Boeing. The company described the move as “necessary to restore confidence” in Boeing “as it works to repair relationships with regulators, customers, and all other stakeholders.”

David Calhoun stepped into the role of CEO in January 2020 and continues to fill the position.

A $2.5 Billion DOJ Settlement and Challenges

On Jan. 7, 2021, the Department of Justice announced that Boeing would pay a $2.5 billion settlement, resolving a DOJ charge that the company had conspired to defraud the Federal Aviation Administration’s Aircraft Evaluation Group.

The DOJ’s criminal investigation focused on the actions of two employees who Boeing said in court documents “deceived the FAA AEG” about the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) onboard the 737 Max — a system the DOJ said “may have played a role” in both 737 Max crashes. The DOJ said the employees’ “deception” led to information about MCAS being left out of a key document released by the FAA, as well as airplane manuals and pilot-training materials.

As Boeing’s Fatal Flaw recounts, congressional investigators found internal documents showing that, after Boeing realized the impact MCAS would have on pilot training and FAA certification, some Boeing employees suggested removing all references to MCAS from training manuals.

“Boeing’s employees chose the path of profit over candor by concealing material information from the FAA concerning the operation of its 737 Max airplane and engaging in an effort to cover up their deception,” said David P. Burns, the acting assistant attorney general of the DOJ’s criminal division when the settlement was announced.

The company entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the DOJ, in which Boeing agreed to pay a nearly $244 million fine, to set up a $500-million fund for the families of people who died in the two crashes, and to pay $1.77 billion to airlines that had been affected by the 20-month grounding of the 737 Max that began in March 2019.

Boeing also agreed to continue cooperating with the DOJ’s Fraud Section on “any ongoing or future investigations and prosecutions” and is required to report any alleged violation of fraud laws by Boeing employees when dealing with foreign or domestic agencies, regulators or airline customers.

Boeing declined FRONTLINE’s request to be interviewed for the documentary. In a statement, the company said safety is its top priority and it has worked closely with regulators, investigators and stakeholders “to implement changes that ensure accidents like these never happen again.”

Former Boeing Pilot Found Not Guilty for Fraud

In October 2021, a federal grand jury criminally indicted Mark Forkner, Boeing’s Former Chief Technical Pilot for the 737 Max Airplane, on fraud charges. Forkner, who became the first and so far only individual to face criminal charges after the two fatal crashes, was accused of providing “materially false, inaccurate and incomplete information” to FAA regulators about flight-control software involved in the 2018 and 2019 crashes. Forkner was later found not guilty of all charges in federal court.

Forkner declined to be interviewed for the documentary, but his lawyer told the Times that his communications with the FAA were honest and that “he would never jeopardize the safety of other pilots or their passengers.”

Lawsuits by Families of Crash Victims

By November 2019, Boeing was facing more than 150 lawsuits filed by families of people who had died in the two crashes — over 50 of the suits stemming from the Indonesian crash and about 100 from the crash in Ethiopia, according to the Associated Press’ review of federal court records.

In July 2020, Boeing told a U.S. federal court that claims related to 171 of the 189 people killed in the Indonesia crash were either partially or fully settled, although the settlements were not publicly disclosed.

As of June 2023, cases related to 68 passengers from the Ethiopian Airlines crash were pending.

The Grounding and Return of the 737 Max 8 and Max 9

In the days after the second 737 Max crashed in March 2019, regulators around the world — from China to the European Union and several other countries — grounded the plane. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration followed suit on March 13, 2019, after initially saying the planes were safe to fly.

When the FAA retested and approved the 737 Max 8 and Max 9, ending the grounding in November 2020, it required airlines to take the following steps before putting the planes back into service: installing new flight-control-computer and display-system software; incorporating revised flight-crew procedures; rerouting wiring; completing a test of the “angle of attack” sensor system, which had contributed to both the 2018 and 2019 crashes; and performing an operational readiness flight.

The FAA, in conjunction with aviation agencies from Canada, Brazil and the European Union, also concluded that pilots operating the 737 Max would need to complete special training. It is not clear who would pay for this additional training, which reversed one of Boeing’s original sales pitches to airlines for the 737 Max: that the plane would require minimal pilot training.

A December 2020 Senate committee report criticized Boeing and the FAA’s handling of the 737 Max recertification testing, saying that, based on whistleblower information and testimony, it appeared Boeing and FAA officials had “established a pre-determined outcome,” and that Boeing officials “inappropriately coached” test pilots in the MCAS simulator. The report alleged, “It appears, in this instance, FAA and Boeing were attempting to cover up important information that may have contributed to the 737 MAX tragedies.”

The FAA responded at the time, saying: “Working closely with other international regulators, the FAA conducted a thorough and deliberate review of the 737 Max.” The agency added it was “confident” the issues that led to the two crashes had been “addressed through the design changes required and independently approved by the FAA and its partners.”

“We have learned many hard lessons” from the crashes, Boeing said in its own statement at the time. The company said it took the committee’s findings seriously and would continue to review the report in full.

Following the Senate report, families of the 2019 Ethiopian crash victims wrote to the FAA and the U.S. Department of Transportation in a letter dated Dec. 22, 2020, and reviewed by Reuters, asking for the 737 Max approval to be rescinded and for an investigation to “determine whether the MAX recertification process was tainted.”

A Brazilian airline was the first to fly a 737 Max after regulators there followed the FAA in ungrounding the plane. On Dec. 29, 2020 — a week after the families’ letter — the 737 Max flew paying passengers in America for the first time after nearly two years of being grounded. A month later, Europe’s aviation authority also gave the 737 Max clearance to fly.

On Aug. 26, 2021, India lifted its ban on the 737 Max after “closely” monitoring the plane’s performance elsewhere and noting “no untoward reporting.” China, which was the first country to ground Max jets after the deadly crashes, resumed commercial flights with the model in January 2023.

The 737 Max 10

On June 18, 2021, Boeing’s new model 737 Max 10 took to the skies for its first flight. The Max 10 is larger than the Max 8, which was involved in the 2018 and 2019 crashes, and the Max 9. According to Boeing’s technical specs, the Max 10 is 14 feet longer than the Max 8 and can seat a maximum of 230 people, compared to the Max 8’s capacity of 210.

At the time of the test flight, Boeing was already working on additional safety features in the Max 10 requested by European regulators, according to Reuters.

“We’re going to take our time on this certification,” Stan Deal, who became president and CEO of Boeing’s Commercial Airplanes division in October 2019, said at the time of the Max 10’s first flight, according to The Seattle Times. “We’re committed to make further safety enhancements.”’

The FAA cleared the Max 10 to begin test flights, a step towards certification, last November.

Alaska Airlines Plane Incident

On January 5, an Alaska Airlines jet made an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon, after a portion of its fuselage blew out and left a door-sized hole in the side of the aircraft while it was around 16,000 feet in the sky. None of the 171 passengers and six crew members were seriously injured. The FAA temporarily grounded more than 170 Max 9 jets so they could be inspected.

In the aftermath, Boeing CEO David Calhoun has said, “Boeing is accountable for what happened.”

A Feb. 6 preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board said that the bolts meant to secure the door-like panel appeared to be missing before the flight.

Later the same month, the FAA released a long-awaited report that found that Boeing’s safety culture has been “inadequate” and “confusing.” The FAA gave Boeing 90 days to come up with a plan to address quality control issues.

The FAA conducted a six-week audit after the Alaska Airlines incident, and on March 4 said that it found Boeing had allegedly failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements.

Boeing now faces legal trouble in relation to the Jan. 5 event, including lawsuits filed by passengers and shareholders.

On Feb. 21, Boeing told employees that Ed Clark, who led the 737 program since 2021, would be replaced. The memo announcing Clark’s departure and other changes said the company was focused “on ensuring that every airplane we deliver meets or exceeds all quality and safety requirements.”

The Justice Department has also begun a criminal investigation into Boeing in the aftermath of the Alaska Airlines incident, as reported first by The Wall Street Journal.

“Cultural change doesn’t happen overnight, especially at big corporations like this,” David Gelles, one of the Times reporters featured in Boeing’s Fatal Flaw, says. “If Boeing wants to get back to that place of grandeur where it was for so long one of the most important American companies, it’s going to take not four years, but it might take 14.”

[reasoningdaily]

Nothing about this is right - nothing

[poebrey]

this generation of kids is so fucked and it’s so depressing to watch in real time. the amount of parents that are like “my preschooler got covid/rsv/had to be hospitalized but it’s ok because kids get sick all the time” is so……in 20 years or so when these kids are in early adulthood we’re going to have an increase in autoimmune diseases and chronic respiratory illnesses along with heart conditions and strokes due to repeated covid infections and researchers are going to be scratching their heads on the cause and ignoring that we let kids go back to schools mid-pandemic with no disease mitigation and then ignored a second respiratory disease resurgence

[one-time-i-dreamt]

My neighbors sued my family because my brother threw a box of McDonald’s fries out the bathroom window and it landed on their front yard.

[cyarskj1899]

If we really think about it, this all started with megan dropping Hiss. Hiss was never a Nicki diss, it was a drake/those who've been capping for Mr. Peterson diss first and foremost. Nicki made it about her The only line that could have gone to nicki was the Megan's line bar and she showed her whole ass on that one, but every other bar applied to drake , who'd been dissing megan for years and going up for Tory once he found out he shot her.

Like all of these are about Drake, especially the bbl and cosplay gangster stuff. She was the first person to wack drake for his botched body and his allegiance to the corny culture vulture community. You notice how every other diss to drake has been mentioning what megan said in hiss? She really threw the first diss at drakewall like please give her her flowers

[lover-of-mine]

That one gifset got me thinking, so what's your opinion on Buck wearing pink? I've noticed he's worn it most around the Diaz boys, but never around a canon love interest 👀

Honestly, pink seems to be about conflict and family? Obviously, the first example anyone will think of Buck in pink is the tsunami. Which is a major family moment since it's canonically the moment Buck realizes exactly how much and in which way he loves Chris but it does ultimately lead to a near-death experience.

But other moments he's wearing pink are: May's graduation party and the moments we see him talking there, he's with Chris and apologizing to Bobby about the train, so he's with his kid and clearing the air with his father figure (wonder if the pink and yellow combo for Buck and Chris means something tho).

Also, Buck talking Eddie down after the skateboard thing and Chris calling him a liar, so parenting issue.

When he's talking to Albert about Veronica and accepting there's nothing he can do about it. Considering Jee, Albert is family in a more traditional way, they are bound by a blood relative, so family.

When Chim comes to tell him about the accident with Jee and why Maddie ran and finds out Buck knew and Chim is for all intents and purposes is his brother-in-law.

So, from the knowledge I gathered by putting the whole show in 12x speed to find every instance he's wearing green, I would reasonably say pink is his conflict in the family color.

[jerseydeanne]

He's such a twat.

"Prince Harry launches new explosive attack on Royal Family in phone hacking trial"

[cyarsk52-20]

Me waiting w🍿to see Not Like Us go #1 again bc Aubrey decided to be a crybaby & call the pOleeece on a BOP.

That is so anti-hip-hop and rap like this is the least anti-hip-hop ever

I never seen this level of embarrassment in 25 going on 26 years of my life .

wasn't there film of him calling someone a 'fragile opp' last night? I've nvr in my old-as-Hip-Hop life seen a 'rapper' call the pOlice on the Peoples' Champ in a rap battle #notabeef

That’s not real hip-hop. That’s Karen like behavior.

[blusical]

TW: SA mention. okay i thought i was done talking about the corey perry situation but after seeing some really horrible takes on insta (where i've also already expressed my anger), twitter and *somehow* on here too, I need to rant: The fact that folks are choosing to believe a rumor because "I don't trust the Blackhawks" is.. kind of disgusting? I don't 100% trust the Hawks either, and I think it'll be a long time before we can ever trust them again for *many* reasons, but is choosing to believe a rumor that might actually ruin the lives of a player (or two) and his family any fucking better? Seriously. Imagine being so deep into your (albeit justified) hatred of a hockey team that you'd rather choose to believe in a clearly bullshit rumor that could actually damage the lives of a player and their family. And while I'm at it, can we stop with the "hawks are okay with rape but draw the line at two adults having consensual sex" shit? Even if the rumor was somehow true, it'd still be pretty fucked. Corey Perry is a MARRIED man. MARRIED. And Melanie is still as far as I know still with her husband. Rape is wrong, but so is cheating. And yes, I know cheating isn't a crime, but that doesn't fucking make it okay?? I swear, it's like people WANT the rumor to be true. It's like people WANT two marriages to have been ruined.

[evanbuckleyrecs]

things left unsaid

Written by Polish_Amber

Words: 8,657

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Category: Gen

Fandom: 9-1-1 (TV)

Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley & Bobby Nash, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Firehouse 118 Crew

Characters: Evan "Buck" Buckley, Bobby Nash, Henrietta "Hen" Wilson, Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)

Additional Tags: Episode Tag, Post-Episode: s03e06 Monsters (9-1-1 TV), Team as Family, Bobby Nash is Evan "Buck" Buckley's Parent, Resolution, Post-Lawsuit (9-1-1 TV), actual communication, Misunderstandings, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, no actual self-harm, Protective Bobby Nash, Canon Compliant, Light Angst

Summary:

“What happened? Is he – was it a blood clot?” Bobby was parsing through every moment he had seen Buck during their shift – had he missed Buck favouring his leg in some way? Or rubbing his chest? Coughing? Damn it, he’d known the risk was too high, why was Buck always so stubborn? His entire body was pulsing with fear-fuelled adrenaline as he considered all of the worst case scenarios. He was so focused on his own imaginings that he almost missed the nurse’s hurried reassurance. “No, no, not a blood clot. Mr Buckley was brought in by paramedics after cutting himself.” Bobby froze. -- Or, the episode tag to 3x06 Monsters, wherein Bobby makes an entirely incorrect assumption about what Buck ‘cutting himself’ means but at least it actually forces them to have a conversati

[melaninpov]

Damn, the more I find out about Michael Oher the more I realize how fictional the movie The Blind Side was. Wow this is quite disturbing. But I guess the real story wouldn’t have been that entertaining. He wasn’t homeless, he was playing football, basketball, and running track when he met the Tuohys. And……. it was the Father that met Oher, not the son. It’s theorized that they changed that in the movie so it would look less like a recruitment. It’s starting to look exactly like that when you think about it.

They portrayed him as a dummy who needed saving. When really in-spite of his circumstances, he was doing just fine and preparing for his future. The real story of Michael Oher is just as amazing as the fictional movie. I wished they had shown the truth and I wished this family genuinely loved and supported him.

[fragilecapric0rnn]

SEASON 3 HAS BEEN SO STRESSFUL SO FAR HOLY FUCKITY FUCK

[reasoningdaily]

The daughters of Malcolm X have filed a $100 million lawsuit against the CIA, FBI, NYPD, and other government entities, claiming they were involved in the assassination of the civil rights icon. The suit, filed in Manhattan federal court, accuses these agencies of being aware of and participating in the plot to kill Malcolm X and failing to intervene.

Attorney Ben Crump, representing the family and the Malcolm X estate, spoke at a press conference with family members, urging federal and city officials to acknowledge and address the “dastardly deeds” committed by their predecessors. “We hope they learn from this and seek to right these historic wrongs,” Crump said.

The agencies named in the lawsuit have yet to respond publicly.

Malcolm X, who was born Malcolm Little and later took the name El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, was killed on February 21, 1965, while delivering a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan. He was 39 years old. Questions about who was truly behind his murder have lingered for decades.

Three men were initially convicted of his killing, but two were exonerated in 2021 following a new investigation that revealed the original prosecution withheld critical evidence. This exoneration intensified calls for accountability and justice from Malcolm X’s surviving family.

The lawsuit claims that prosecutors and government agencies suppressed their involvement in the assassination plot and that the Shabazz family has suffered immensely from not knowing the full truth. “They did not know who murdered Malcolm X, why he was murdered, the extent of the NYPD, FBI, and CIA’s involvement, the identities of those who conspired against him, or who covered it up,” the suit states. It describes the damage to the family as “unimaginable, immense, and irreparable.”

The family first announced their intent to sue these agencies last year.

[anyataylorjoys]

If you pay for photoshop, go to https://account.adobe.com/plans > manage plans > cancel your plan > continue to cancel.

And then in a last ditch effort to keep you around, adobe should offer you a month free. Accept the offer and get charged $0 for your next pay period unless your next pay period is in 48 hours then it won't be effective until the following month.

[one-time-i-dreamt]

My brother did not think I trusted him, so he stole my carpet and turned it into a purple blob. I sued him for this and he won the case.

[mobiused]

i've been worried about hyeju lately, but no one else i've seen seems to be at all worried or even notice she's been awol, which just freaks me out more. what's your perspective here?

I get what you mean but she hasn't really been as AWOL as you might think. She hung out with yveswon last month, and went to her debut cafe last week, so she's still alive. She just doesn't really like social media or hanging out with people - even on fab she was hardly active. She's been spending time with her family, especially her sister, who live about an hour out of Seoul so it's no surprise she hasn't really been around the others too much. And shes emphasised over the past few years that her favourite company is her own, so while I get its maybe concerning to not hear from her, you should trust in her to be getting by just fine.