Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 crashed March 10 almost immediately after taking off, similarly Lion Air flight 610 crashed after takeoff. Both planes were Boeing 737 8 max airplanes. The cause of the crash is believed to be an operating software, which according to CNN was called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS). The MCAS pushes the nose of the plane down during flight in order to avoid stalling. In both crashes, a malfunction of the software is believed to have caused the airplane to suddenly lose altitude, pushing the nose down despite pilot attempts to maneuver up. Boeing recently grounded all 737 Max 8 airplanes, and currently none are flying.

Information was recently released alleging that Boeing may have rushed the 737 Max planes out of production in an attempt to compete with their rival company Airbus. Pilots were given minimal training on the new airplanes, with many completely unaware of the existence of MCAS. According to the Insurance-Journal, Boeing may have been aware of the plane defects as early as the first crash.

Sophomore Gabriela Holzer expressed doubts about the effectiveness of reparations. She said “Boeing is already facing many consequences in the form of losing contracts and I think that that is already difficult for any company. I think that they need to put more money into production, so that future crashes can be prevented.”

Junior Liam Roy expressed hope that the cases didn’t harm aviation overall. He said that “while the situation is worrying, you’re probably still more likely to get in an accident in a car.”