Lion Air flight 610 crashed off Indonesia in October 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 crashed near Addis Ababa in March 2019, killing all 346 people aboard the two Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplanes. Investigators in Indonesia and Ethiopia pointed to erroneous angle of attack data and repeated activation of the MCAS flight control function. The MAX was grounded worldwide for about 20 months, Boeing entered a deferred prosecution agreement in 2021, and a federal judge dismissed the resulting criminal case in November 2025.
The 737 MAX has been back in service since late 2020 in the US and early 2021 in Europe. The criminal case against Boeing was dismissed in November 2025 under a non-prosecution agreement, and the Fifth Circuit denied the families' mandamus petitions in March 2026, denied rehearing in May 2026 and issued its mandate on June 18, 2026.
The KNKT report says the airplane became airborne from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport at 23:20:40 UTC on 28 October. The report gives local time as UTC plus 7 hours, which was 06:20 on 29 October.
The KNKT said the accident occurred at about 0632 local time (23:32 UTC) and that the airplane impacted the water off Tanjung Karawang, West Java, with 189 people aboard. The flight data recorder stopped recording at 23:31:54 UTC.
The FAA issued emergency AD 2018-23-51 requiring flight manual procedures for runaway stabilizer trim. It cited an erroneously high single angle of attack sensor input that could cause repeated nose down trim.
The EAIB said the takeoff roll began at 05:37:51 UTC and the airplane lifted off at 05:38:34. Shortly after liftoff the left angle of attack sensor value became erroneous, the report states.
The EAIB said the airplane impacted terrain at 05:44 UTC near Ejere village, 28 nautical miles southeast of Addis Ababa, and all 157 people aboard died. Both recorders stopped recording at around 05:43:44.
The FAA issued an Emergency Order of Prohibition on operating 737 MAX airplanes. EASA later said the type was grounded worldwide in March 2019.
The NTSB issued seven safety recommendations to the FAA, saying assumptions about pilot response used in certifying the 737 MAX did not match how crews reacted.
The KNKT said the installed left angle of attack sensor had an undetected 21 degree bias, that MCAS activated repeatedly, and that the design and certification of MCAS was inadequate. It said the flight manual and crew training did not include MCAS information.
Boeing said Dennis Muilenburg resigned as CEO and director effective immediately and that chairman David Calhoun would become CEO on January 13, 2020.
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chair Peter DeFazio and aviation subcommittee chair Rick Larsen released a majority staff report. Its themes included production pressures, faulty design and performance assumptions, concealment of information and conflicts in FAA oversight.
The FAA rescinded its emergency order and issued an airworthiness directive requiring new flight control and display software, wiring changes, an angle of attack sensor test and an operational readiness flight.
AD 2020-24-02 was published in the Federal Register and took effect, superseding the 2018 emergency directive and adding an AOA DISAGREE alert to the displays.
The Justice Department charged Boeing with conspiracy to defraud the United States over two Boeing technical pilots deceiving the FAA Aircraft Evaluation Group about MCAS. Under a deferred prosecution agreement Boeing agreed to pay $2,513,600,000, including a $500 million crash victim beneficiaries fund.
EASA approved the return to service of the modified 737 MAX in Europe, about 22 months after the type was grounded worldwide in March 2019.
The EAIB published final report AI-01/19. It found the most probable cause was repetitive and uncommanded nose down inputs from MCAS due to erroneous angle of attack input, and listed MCAS reliance on a single sensor as a contributing factor.
The NTSB said the EAIB did not incorporate or append its most recent comments, which focused mainly on human factors, and released them separately.
The BEA said it agreed with the EAIB's conclusions on the contribution of MCAS but had asked for deeper analysis of crew performance, and published the comments the EAIB did not append.
The Justice Department told the court it had determined that Boeing breached the deferred prosecution agreement by failing to design, implement and enforce a compliance and ethics program, making Boeing subject to prosecution.
The district court rejected the plea agreement that the government and Boeing submitted in July 2024, after hearing argument on October 11, 2024, according to the Justice Department case page.
The Justice Department reached a non-prosecution agreement with Boeing and then moved to dismiss the criminal charge. The department said it had held a virtual conferral with victims' representatives on May 16, 2025.
US District Judge Reed O'Connor granted the Justice Department's motion to dismiss the charge after Boeing and the department reached a non-prosecution agreement valued at $1.1 billion. He wrote that he lacked authority to deny it because the government had not acted in bad faith.
Some families who opposed dismissal filed petitions for a writ of mandamus with the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, challenging both the 2021 agreement and the 2025 non-prosecution agreement, according to the Justice Department. Other family members said they did not oppose the agreement.
A Fifth Circuit panel held the challenge to the 2021 agreement moot after Boeing's breach and found the department did not violate the Crime Victims' Rights Act in reaching the 2025 agreement. It denied the mandamus petitions.
The Fifth Circuit denied the petitions for rehearing and rehearing en banc and issued an amended opinion. The mandate issued on June 18, 2026, according to the Justice Department.
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Last updated 31 October 2026. Spotted an error? See corrections. Every event links to the record it comes from. Allegations are attributed to whoever made them.