Grounded Boeing 737 Max Planes Crowd Renton Factory as They Wait for Repairs
The Boeing 737 MAX is currently grounded while the company is working to fix the plane's Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), which was blamed for causing two deadly crashes.
On 29 October 2018, a Boeing 737 MAX operated by the Indonesian airline Lion Air took off from Soekarno–Hatta International Airport in Jakarta headed for Depati Amir Airport in Pangkal Pinang. Twelve minutes into its flight the plane crashed into the Java Sea killing all 189 passengers and crew.
On 10 March 2019, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 left Addis Ababa Bole International Airport in Ethiopia to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya. Just six minutes after takeoff the flight crashed to the ground, killing all 157 people aboard.
In this video, some of the grounded planes can be seen at Boeing's Renton factory and Boeing Field.
The Ethiopian flight’s cause of the crash is still under investigation. Early indications suggest the Boeings MCAS system is to blame.
One day after an initial report by the Ethiopian minister of transportation was released, four current and former Boeing employees called the US Federal Aviation Authority’s anonymous safety hotline to report additional problems with the aircraft.
One whistleblower has apparently reported that the sensors used by the MCAS system were damaged during manufacturing.