BOEING 737 MAX 8 RETURNS:

Will People Get on Board?

APRIL

2021

Video Summary & Related ContentVideo Review

Before ViewingTalk Prompts

Digging DeeperActivity: How could they?Sources

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BOEING 737 MAX 8 RETURNS: Will People Get on Board?Video duration – 13:02

In January 2021, Transportation Canada approved the relaunch of the Boeing 737 MAX 8. The planes had been grounded for 22 months after two deadly crashes that killed 346 people, including 18 Canadians. The crashes were discovered to be caused by flaws in the jet’s flight control systems — a fact that was covered up by Boeing. Now, after extensive design changes and pilot retraining, AIr Canada and WestJet have put the planes back into service. But doubts remain among passengers and some aviation experts about the overall safety of the aircraft.

Related Content on Curio.ca• Arrow Air: Canada’s Deadliest Plane Crash (News in Review, April 2016)• Canada: Above and Beyond – 100 Years of Aviation (4-part series)• Investigation of Swissair 111 (The Nature of Things)• Malaysia Airlines MH370 : Mystery Unsolved (News in Review, November 2014)

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VIDEO REVIEW

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BEFORE VIEWING

1. What are some of the basic expectations you should have when you take a commercial flight?

2. It has been estimated that traveling by plane is 19 times safer than traveling in a car. Do you feel safe when flying? Explain your answer.

3. Do you think the airport, the airline, the aircraft manufacturer, the aircraft personnel, and aircraft maintenance workers have a set of duties and responsibilities to passengers traveling on commercial flights? If so, what are they?

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TALK PROMPT #1Consider pausing the video and giving students the opportunity to talk to an elbow partner for a few minutes or use these questions as part of a class discussion.

Pause the video (@03:43) after Ian Hanomansing says, “Software called MCAS had been designed to keep the Max 8 from climbing too steeply, but in a very rare set of circumstances. Adding to the problem, Boeing originally kept MCAS a secret from regulators and everyone else. Just this month facing criminal charges, the manufacturer agreed to pay $2.5 billion, admitting it deceived the U.S. regulator, the FAA, about the MCAS system.”

a. Was the penalty Boeing received severe enough? Explain your answer.

b. What could be done by airline industry regulators to ensure this kind of lack of oversight and deception never happens again?

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TALK PROMPT #2Pause for discussion at the end of the video.

a. Is the recertification process enough to rebuild trust in the safety of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 with passengers? Why or why not?

b. What additional measures are needed to restore passenger confidence in the MAX 8?

c. Would you fly on the Max 8? Explain your answer.

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DIGGING DEEPER

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DIGGING DEEPER

Boeing, the world’s leading aircraft manufacturer, is desperate to rebuild public trust after software malfunctions and slapdash safety protocols led two of its new 737 Max 8 planes to crash between October 2018 and March 2019, killing 346 passengers and crew. After a 20-month-long recertification process (that regulators are calling the most rigorous in history) Transport Canada has lifted the flight ban on the 737

Max 8, declaring the plane “airworthy” once again. But as airlines like Air Canada, WestJet and Sunwing prepare to send their Max 8 fleets back into the skies in 2021, will Canadian passengers get on-board?

For this Digging Deeper, read the three articles that focus on (a) the Indonesia and Ethiopia crashes, (b) how Boeing’s celebrated culture of aircraft safety eroded under pressure to maximize profits, and (c) what Canadian airlines are doing to restore faith in a

brand that has cost 18 Canadians their lives since 2018.

READ about the federal government response in 2019 to Boeing 737 Max 8 crashes:

Minister Garneau statement regarding restricting airspace to Boeing 737 Max 8 and 9 aircraft

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Crash aftermath

After the Max 8 went down in Ethiopia in March 2019, Boeing sent its technical team to the crash site to investigate.

This article describes the immediate fallout of the tragedy. It includes early speculation about why it happened, questions about the aircraft model, concerns about the flight software Boeing chose to not disclose before the crash, and the ripple effect the March 2019

crash — the second in five months! — had on the airline industry.

What we know about the Boeing 737 Max 8

Questions

1. What are the implications of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 disaster for (a) airlines (b) Boeing and (c) prospective passengers on 737 Max 8 flights? (Note: Consider the number of orders Boeing had recently filled for the aircraft.)

2. Before the actual cause had been confirmed, what was one potential factor that may have led to both Max 8 crashes?

LEARN MORE about the role of the pilots in the minutes leading up to the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in this video:

Ethiopian Airlines crash preliminary report: Crew followed Boeing rules

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Profit first, safety second

Boeing’s rivalry with AirBus was a contributing factor in the tragic crashes of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 and Lion Air Flight 610. AirBus’s late-2010 announcement that a turbo-fan engine upgrade to their popular A320 model would result in 15 per cent greater fuel efficiency threatened Boeing’s control of the market, pressuring the manufacturer to redesign their 737 engines.

Due to the 737’s low-to-the-ground design, the new, much larger engines had to be mounted higher on the plane’s wings, causing the aircraft to struggle for altitude on takeoff. To compensate, Boeing installed software designed to stabilize the plane when flown at too high an angle, but chose to not disclose this information to pilots of the 737 Max 8, who were told the new planes flew just like earlier models.

Further investigation into the two crashes reveals that, in both cases, the pilots struggled to right the nose of the plane, as the software overrode their manual controls, ultimately driving the plane nose-down toward disaster.

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This article details how an increasingly powerful faction of self-interested executives, touting the importance of rewarding shareholders, led to internal divisions within Boeing that threatened the company’s once industry-renowned culture of safety.

Internal Boeing messages detail how pressure to cut costs eroded company's renowned safety culture

Questions

1. According to Cynthia Cole, how did the 1997 amalgamation with McDonnell Douglas affect Boeing’s attention to safety?

2. Summarize the internal communications at Boeing regarding the 737 Max 8 aircraft. What should leadership at Boeing have done about this?

3. What did the engineering study and Federal Aviation Administration study of the 737 Max 8 show? How did Boeing manage to avoid re-regulation of its new aircraft?

You play ball or else. The managers could tell you to keep your mouth shut or you lose your job.

– Cynthia Cole,retired Boeing engineer

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restore passenger confidence is landing with families of the Indonesia and Ethiopia crash victims.

Canada clears Boeing 737 Max for flight nearly 2 years after global grounding

Questions

1. Which Canadian political parties blocked an NDP motion for an inquiry into the Max 8’s recertification process? How might an inquiry have helped the families of the victims?

737 Max 8s cleared for takeoff...again

Despite Boeing’s knowledge of the MCAS software’s glitches, damning evidence of lobbying government to avoid re-regulation, and shameful efforts by company executives to suppress internal concerns about aircraft safety, Boeing’s 737 Max 8 commercial planes have been cleared for takeoff.

This article describes the recertification process of the Max 8 by regulators, as well as how Boeing’s efforts to

2. What challenges are Canadian airlines facing regarding Max 8 flights moving forward?

There's no amount of money that could bring back the lives of Danielle and all 246 people. It doesn't sit well for me and my family. They [Boeing executives] should go to jail..

– Clariss Moore, mother of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302

victim, Danielle Moore

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ACTIVITY: How could they?!?Researching corporate ethics breaches

Form a group of four, select one of the case studies below, and conduct some online research.

● Deepwater Horizon oil spill

● Bhopal gas disaster

● Volkswagen emissions scandal

● Foxconn suicides

● USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal

● Purdue Pharma Oxycontin scandal

Your task

As a group, prepare a presentation that includes the following:

● A summary of the scandal

● A list of stakeholders involved and a description of their roles

● An explanation of the ethics that were breached

● An analysis of the impact on individuals and society

● Your opinion on what the consequences should be for those responsible

Present your group’s findings to your classmates

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SOURCESBurke, A. (January 19, 2021). Canada clears Boeing 737 Max 8 for flight nearly 2 Years after global grounding. CBC News. Retrieved from: www.cbc.ca/news/politics/boeing-737-max-fly-again-1.5877356.

CBC News (January 20, 2020). Internal Boeing messages detail how pressure to cut costs eroded company's renowned safety culture. CBC News. Retrieved from: www.cbc.ca/news/business/boeing-fifth-estate-costs-safety-1.5426571.

CBC News. (March 11, 2019). What we know about the Boeing 737 Max 8. CBC News. Retrieved from: www.cbc.ca/news/world/ethiopia-boeing-plane-crash-canadians-1.5050682.

Chang, A. et al. (April 15, 2019). The real reason Boeing's new plane crashed twice.” Vox. Retrieved from: www.vox.com/videos/2019/4/15/18306644/boeing-737-max-crash-video.

Transportation Canada. (March 13, 2019). Minister Garneau statement regarding restricting airspace to Boeing 737 MAX 8 and 9 aircraft. Government of Canada. Retrieved from: www.canada.ca/en/transport-canada/news/2019/03/minister-garneau-statement-regarding-restricting-airspace-to-boeing-737-max-8-and-9-aircraft.html.