A Maximum Memorial

How Boeing’s missteps continued well past the Ethiopian Airlines flight that killed all 157 on board

- By Peter Robison

WHEN THE FIRST BOEING 737 MAX PLANE CAME OFF THE PRODUCTION LINE IN DECEMBER 2015, IT WAS THE beginning of a highly anticipated new line of aircraft for the storied company. It incorporated the latest technology and was billed by Boeing as “deliver[ing] the highest efficiency, reliability and passenger comfort in the single-aisle market.” Tragically, that promise came to a glaring halt with two back-to-back disasters in which flight control software known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) incorrectly gauged the aircrafts’ angles of ascent and prevented the pilots from manually overriding it. In total, 346 people on board Lion Air flight 610 on October 28, 2018 and Ethiopian Air flight 302 on March 10, 2019 were killed after only about 13 minutes and 6 minutes in the air, respectively. ¶ Investigative journalist Peter Robison takes a deep dive into the ongoing problems and shortcuts at Boeing that allowed the MCAS problem to get past all the existing safeguards and the aftermath of the crashes in his new book, flying blind (Doubleday, November 30). In this excerpt from the book, Robison shares the untold story of memorial for the Ethiopian Air victims and how the company excluded grieving families from planning and participating in the service in an attempt to control the narrative.