{"id":17840,"date":"2019-12-31T17:40:23","date_gmt":"2019-12-31T09:40:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/year-in-aerospace-looking-back-at-boeings-troubles-looking-ahead-to-commercial-triumphs\/"},"modified":"2019-12-31T17:40:23","modified_gmt":"2019-12-31T09:40:23","slug":"year-in-aerospace-looking-back-at-boeings-troubles-looking-ahead-to-commercial-triumphs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/year-in-aerospace-looking-back-at-boeings-troubles-looking-ahead-to-commercial-triumphs\/","title":{"rendered":"Year in Aerospace: Looking back at Boeing\u2019s troubles, looking ahead to commercial triumphs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Boeing
The first 737 MAX 8 plane undergoes final assembly at Boeing\u2019s Renton plant in 2015. (Boeing Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

2019 was a tough year for the aerospace industry \u2014 a year when a control system flaw caused the second catastrophic crash of a 737 MAX jet and sparked a worldwide grounding of Boeing\u2019s fastest-selling plane.<\/p>\n

Nine months after the Ethiopian Airlines crash, which killed 157 people, the 737 MAX is still grounded. Boeing\u2019s CEO and the head of its commercial airplanes unit have been replaced, and the prospects for the MAX\u2019s return to flight are uncertain.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a good-news story. But it\u2019s the biggest aerospace story of 2019 \u2014 especially for the Puget Sound region, where the 737 MAX and most of Boeing\u2019s bigger airplanes are made.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been highlighting the top stories on the aerospace beat in year-end roundups for 22 years, and it\u2019s hard to think of a bigger transitional time than 2019-2020 (though 2011-2012, marking the end of the space shuttle era, comes close).<\/p>\n

For most of those years, I\u2019ve done this as a list of five top space stories from the year that\u2019s ending, and a list of five top space trends to watch during the year that\u2019s starting. This year, we\u2019re widening the focus to take in aviation developments as well, only in part due to the Boeing story. There\u2019ll be plenty to watch for up above, ranging from the moon and Mars to the airspace above your backyard. Check out these highlights, and feel free to weigh in with your own year-end reviews.<\/p>\n

Five top stories from 2019<\/h3>\n

These top stories focus on aerospace developments, but to revisit the year\u2019s biggest stories in space science \u2014 including the first-ever portrait of a black hole and the New Horizons probe\u2019s flyby past a space snowman \u2014 click on over to my \u201cYear in Science\u201d roundup.<\/p>\n

Boeing\u2019s woes:<\/strong> March\u2019s crash in Ethiopia came after a similar crash in Indonesia less than five months earlier, bringing home the realization that something was seriously wrong with the 737 MAX. The investigation quickly zeroed in on an automatic flight control system that pilots couldn\u2019t override in time, and although Boeing says a software update will solve the problem, the Federal Aviation Administration isn\u2019t expected to sign off on the fix until February or later. This month, Boeing\u2019s board forced out CEO Dennis Muilenburg. It\u2019ll be up to his replacement, Dave Calhoun, to repair Boeing\u2019s reputation, get the 737 MAX back in business, get the twin-aisle 777X to market and give the go-ahead for Boeing\u2019s next airplane project.<\/p>\n

Harbour Air\u2019s first electric flight:<\/strong> Electric propulsion could revolutionize the aviation industry \u2014 and make people feel less guilty about traveling by air in this age of growing climate-change concerns. Vancouver, B.C.-based Harbour Air and Redmond, Wash.-based MagniX arguably fired the first shot in that revolution this month with the initial flight test of a converted all-electric seaplane. In 2020, MagniX\u2019s corporate cousin, Eviation, is due to start flight tests at Moses Lake in central Washington state for an all-electric airplane that\u2019s built from the ground up. Both planes are on track to win FAA certification by as early as 2021.<\/p>\n