A United Airlines flight from Boston to San Francisco was diverted to Denver on Tuesday due to a potential mechanical issue, according to the airline. The incident occurred on a Boeing 737 MAX 9, a model that has faced scrutiny in recent years due to safety concerns. The aircraft landed safely in Denver, and the passengers were transferred to a different plane to continue their journey.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating the matter. The specific details regarding the cause of the emergency landing were not disclosed. According to Flight Aware, a flight tracking website, the plane departed from Boston at 6:34 a.m. and reached Denver at 11:28 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. A replacement flight took off from Denver to San Francisco at 2:24 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
The Boeing 737 MAX has been the subject of safety debates since two fatal crashes in Indonesia in 2018 and Ethiopia in 2019, claiming the lives of 346 people. Boeing settled with the Justice Department for $2.5 billion in January 2021 to avoid a fraud charge, attributing the misleading information to two lower-level employees regarding the federal approval of the aircraft.
Since the door plug incident on the Alaska Airlines flight, Boeing has faced increased scrutiny over its manufacturing standards, with ongoing investigations into the incident and broader manufacturing practices. Reports suggest that the FBI has even warned passengers that they could be considered victims of a criminal act. Prosecutors are planning to meet with the families of the victims from the two Max crashes on May 31, following dissatisfaction expressed by family members at a previous meeting.
Investigations have revealed issues with a flight-control system added to the Max series, which Boeing failed to disclose to pilots and airlines. The company minimized the importance of this system and only made modifications after the second crash occurred. In a discreet deal, the government decided against prosecuting Boeing for defrauding the United States by deceiving the regulators about this system. The agreement included a $243.6 million penalty, a $500 million fund to compensate victims, and nearly $1.8 billion in damages to airlines affected by the grounding of the Max jets for almost two years.
Boeing now faces ongoing civil lawsuits, legislative inquiries, and significant reputational damage due to the disasters in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
