A federal judge has dismissed the criminal case against Boeing over the two deadly 737 MAX crashes. But here’s the wild part: the dismissal only happened because the U.S. Department of Justice asked for it — and the settlement lets Boeing choose its own compliance consultant to monitor its safety and ethics programs.
How We Got Here
Two Boeing 737 MAX crashes — Lion Air Flight 610 in 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in 2019 — killed a total of 346 people.
Investigators later found that Boeing introduced a new flight-control system (MCAS) but didn’t fully disclose it to pilots or regulators. The FAA didn’t understand the safety implications until after the first crash.
Boeing had been given substantial authority to certify its own aircraft systems through an FAA delegation program. Essentially, Boeing engineers were allowed to participate in certifying Boeing designs.
That’s oversight… but not really oversight.
DOJ Actually Charged Boeing
In January 2021, the Department of Justice filed a criminal charge: conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government over allegations that Boeing misled the FAA about MCAS.
At the same time, DOJ agreed to a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA), pausing prosecution if Boeing installed a strong compliance and ethics monitoring system.
Then, in May 2024, the DOJ notified the court that Boeing had violated that agreement by failing to implement the required monitoring program.
Boeing was literally accused of failing at self-monitoring.
And Yet — DOJ Asked To Have the Case Dismissed
Fast-forward to May 2025.
Months into President Trump’s second term, the DOJ reversed course and asked the judge to dismiss the case entirely, saying Boeing had now made “meaningful progress.”
Judge Reed O’Connor… did not hide his disbelief.
“The Government now believes that Boeing can be trusted to select a compliance consultant because Boeing has made ‘meaningful progress in improving its anti-fraud compliance and ethics programs.’”
Then he summarized DOJ’s logic, using their own arguments against them:
“Boeing committed crimes sufficient to justify prosecution, failed to remedy its fraudulent behavior on its own during the [Deferred Prosecution Agreement] which justified a guilty plea and the imposition of an independent monitor, but now Boeing will remedy that dangerous culture by retaining a consultant of its own choosing.”
And, in a deep cut that very few judges would ever reference in a case like this, he quoted the Federalist Papers:
“In every political institution a power to advance the public happiness involves a discretion that may be abused.”
Translation:
Just because the government can make this deal doesn’t mean it should.
Boeing Failed at Monitoring Itself Before. Now the Solution Is… Monitoring Itself Again.
Let’s review:
- Boeing oversaw parts of the 737 MAX certification.
- Oversight failed, and 346 people died.
- DOJ required Boeing to improve its compliance program.
- Boeing failed to do that too — DOJ said so in writing.
- The new plan is to trust Boeing to monitor itself. Again.
If this feels like a loop, you’re not imagining it.
As Passengers, What Can We Even Do?
I’ll be blunt: This does not inspire confidence that Boeing will suddenly become more truthful or proactive about safety issues. We’ve seen how Boeing behaves when it controls the information.
However, with only two major commercial aircraft manufacturers in the world — Boeing and Airbus — passengers have limited power. We don’t pick the aircraft model. Airlines do.
We just hope the system works.
Final Thought
In this case, I think the judge did a better job summarizing this series of events than I ever could.
Unfortunately, nothing here suggests things will change.
Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.
Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary, or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.
Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
