When Boeing learned that American Airlines might choose Airbus over their planes, it triggered a corporate race that would ultimately kill 346 people. Join Alice and Zach as they explore how Boeing's rushed development of the 737 MAX led to fatal design shortcuts, including a hidden software system called MCAS that pilots were never told about. Discover the corporate culture that prioritized speed over safety, the engine placement problem that started it all, and the tragic crash of Lion Air Flight 610—the first warning of a deadly flaw that Boeing chose to downplay rather than fix.

Sources:

U.S. Department of Justice Documents:

• "DOJ confirms it has a deal with Boeing to drop prosecution over deadly 737 Max crashes" - NPR, May 23, 2025
• "Boeing Reaches Deal with DOJ to Avoid Criminal Prosecution in 737 MAX Case" - Aviation Source News
• "Families of 737 MAX crash victims to object to deal allowing Boeing to avoid prosecution" - Reuters

Crash Investigation Reports:

• "Aircraft Accident Investigation Report. PT. Lion Airlines Boeing 737 (MAX); PK-LQP" - Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee, October 25, 201
• "Aircraft Accident Investigation Report B737-MAX 8, ET-AVJ" - Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority, December 23, 2022
• "Indonesia report finds fatal Lion Air jet crash due to Boeing, pilots, maintenance" - NBC News

Academic and Legal Analysis:

• "Boeing's 737 MAX 8 Disasters" - MIT Sloan case study by John Sterman and James Quinn, May 2, 2023
• "Lion Air Flight JT 610 Crash" - Wisner Baum law firm case analysis
• Wikipedia entries on Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302

News Coverage:

• "5 Years On: Looking Back At The Crash Of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302" - Simple Flying, March 10, 2024

Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online:

• Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com
• Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod
• Facebook: Final Boarding Call

Credits:

Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

On December 15, 1967, during rush hour traffic, the Silver Bridge spanning the Ohio River between Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Gallipolis, Ohio, suddenly collapsed in less than a minute, claiming 46 lives. Discover how a microscopic crack just one-tenth of an inch deep in a single eyebar brought down an entire bridge that had stood for nearly four decades. Learn about the innovative but flawed engineering decisions that prioritized cost savings over redundancy, and explore how this disaster forever changed America's approach to infrastructure inspection and maintenance. Plus, delve into the mysterious Mothman sightings that occurred in the months leading up to the collapse and how this legend became intertwined with the tragedy in local folklore.

SOURCES:

• Wikipedia entry on the Silver Bridge disaster
• National Transportation Safety Board accident report
• National Geographic's "The Collapse of West Virginia's Silver Bridge" from their Atlas of Cursed Places series

FIND FINAL BOARDING CALL ONLINE:

• Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com
• Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod
• Facebook: Final Boarding Call

CREDITS:

Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

Join Alice and Zach for another quarterly roundup of recent aviation incidents and accidents from around the world. In this second quarter edition, they explore seven significant aviation events from April through June 2025, including a devastating air traffic control crisis that paralyzed Newark Airport, a tragic Air India crash that became one of India's deadliest aviation disasters, multiple fatal crashes in California, a helicopter disaster over the Hudson River, Boeing's controversial legal settlement over the 737 MAX crashes, and Pan Am's surprising return to the skies as a luxury travel experience.

Newark Airport ATC Outages:

• "Following Newark Airport Blackouts, Blumenthal Calls on Trump Administration to Step Up and Protect the Flying Public" - Senator Richard Blumenthal's Office
• "A Newark Air Traffic Controller on the Moment Systems Went Dark" - NPR
• "Newark Airport Air Traffic Controllers Radar Outage Planes" - CNBC
• "Air Traffic Control Denver FAA" - The New York Times
• "FAA Investigating After Newark Air Traffic Control Suffered Two Second Outage" - Reuters
• "Newark Airport Outage Monday" - CNN
• "FAA Statements Newark Liberty International Airport" - Federal Aviation Administration

Air India Flight 171 Crash:

• "Air India jet crash kills 246 people, with at least 1 passenger surviving: Officials" - ABC News
• "LIVE | Air India flight crash in Ahmedabad: 241 people on board dead; one miracle survivor, says police" - The New Indian Express
• "Man Who Survived Air India Plane Crash Was Able to Describe the Tragedy from His Hospital Bed" - People Magazine

San Diego Cessna Citation II Crash (Murphy Canyon):

• "2025 San Diego Cessna Citation II crash" - Wikipedia
• "Cessna 550 Citation Crashes into Murphy Canyon Neighbourhood San Diego May 22 2025" - Ramos Law
• "San Diego plane crash" - CNN
• "Victims identified in fatal San Diego plane crash" - KPBS
• "Music agent Shapiro among six killed Citation crash" - AIN Online
• "Jet crashed neighborhood now live dread active flight path" - NBC News

San Diego Cessna 414 Crash (Point Loma):

• "Six were killed when small plane crashed off San Diego coast, FAA" - NBC San Diego
• "All 6 victims in plane crash off coast of Point Loma identified" - 10News
• "Six killed in plane crash near San Diego" - Aviation A2Z
• "Search underway for six passengers after plane crash near Point Loma coast guard leads multi agency rescue efforts" - Hoodline
• "Plane crash San Diego ocean Cessna NTSB" - Associated Press

Hudson River Helicopter Crash:

• "2025 Hudson River helicopter crash" - Wikipedia
• "Hudson River helicopter crash" - CNN
• "Hudson River helicopter crash NTSB preliminary report" - CBS News
• "Hudson helicopter crash what we know" - CNN International
• "Helicopter fatal New York crash lacked flight recorders NTSB says" - Reuters
• "Hudson River helicopter crash" - BBC News
• "Hudson River helicopter crash" - The New York Times
• "Helicopter rotor retrieved Hudson River days after deadly" - ABC News

Boeing 737 MAX Settlement:

• "Boeing won't face criminal prosecution over fatal 737 Max crashes" - USA Today
• "Boeing Justice Department 737 max plane crashes charges deal" - NPR
• "United States v Boeing Company" - U.S. Department of Justice
• "Boeing reaches deal with US DOJ to avoid prosecution over 737 max crashes" - Al Jazeera
• "Justice Department reaches deal to allow Boeing to avoid prosecution over 737 max crashes" - MPR News
• "Boeing 737 max crashes DOJ" - CNBC
• "Boeing 737 max crashes" - The New York Times
• "Families of