By Scott Hamilton
Dan Elwell, former acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. Credit: Alaska Airlines.
Dec. 3, 2025, © Leeham News, Washington (DC): Boeing’s “hangover” and PTSD (post-traumatic stress syndrome) following the 737 MAX crisis of 2019 and beyond is over, says the former acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) who had to deal with the fallout before Congress.
Dan Elwell faced investigations from hostile Congressional hearings, a criminal probe, civil litigation, an Inspector General’s inquiry from the FAA’s parent department, and in-depth reporting from many newspapers and television media in the months after the second of two MAXes crashed in March 2019, five months after the first fatal accident. The probes, lawsuits and civil and criminal discoveries revealed serious safety and quality control shortfalls at Boeing and shortcomings of the FAA’s oversight of the company and certification of the MAX.
“The FAA still is sort of feeling and nursing sort of the wounds,” Elwell said during an appearance on Dec. 2 at the monthly luncheon of the AeroClub of Washington (DC). “There was a certain amount of MAX PTSD after the pressures that hung around for a while” at Boeing and the FAA.
Elwell said that the biggest challenge he felt was trying to get both the agency and the “really outstanding engineers and people” who work at Boeing to sort of put it behind them, and do what they know best with confidence. Then, Elwell said, it was necessary to support those who were doing what they know how to do best.
“I think…the FAA is getting there,” he said, adding that Boeing is also making progress. Then company is meeting Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that they’re following, and recently received FAA approval to increase the 737 production rate from 38/mo to 42/mo. Boeing wants to further increase rates to 47/mo and 52/mo in two “rate breaks” next year.
The hangover is over
So, sort of, the hangover from the MAX is all over, I think. That is certainly not a big challenge [now], Elwell said.
Yet, some suggest that Boeing’s hangover lingers. Certification of the 737-7 and -10 MAXes have been stalled, with the latter’s FAA’s authorization perhaps as much as a year away. Certification of the 777X has been delayed again, from 2026 to 2027.
Elwell, however, said these delays are largely due to Boeing bringing issues to the FAA’s attention.
“What I was talking about was the direct ramifications of the MAX groundings. That’s not to say that all of the challenges that the certification process brings to the table and the very tricky part about validation with other [regulators] around the world [are over]; they’re always going to be there. I don’t think that the 10 and the 7 are suffering from the hangover of the MAX,” he said.
“Those were issues that Boeing brought to the FAA that they have discovered and that they are now working really hard to fix. You’re going to have those issues regardless of the pressures. What I’m really talking about is the hangover that the rank and file felt from the criminal charges,” he said.
“All kinds of things were happening between whistleblowers, professional whistleblowers. Think about that. And what they had done during the MAX to the rank and file, to make people cautious before doing what they knew was right or cautious before speaking. I feel like they’ve got their mojo back in regard to their job.”
“A real step change”
Billy Nolen, former acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. Credit: ZeroAvia.
Billy Nolen, a former acting administrator who joined Elwell on the panel, agreed.
“What we’ve seen is a real step change [at Boeing]. We’ve seen a step change in leadership from Kelly Ortberg and the entire team. [We know from] public and local data that both Boeing and the FAA are looking at the same thing.
“Our ability to see in the moment as things are happening [have] come a long way since the MAX. We should never, ever take that for granted. We take all of those lessons learned and pour them into the future as we think about how we do things in terms of things that can make the agency better,” Nolen said.
Two other former top FAA officials appeared on the panel with him, discussing mostly unrelated topics. Future posts will report their comments.
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