Boeing Discloses 737 MAX Autopilot Glitch After Missed Landings, FAA Opens Safety Review

Boeing has told the Federal Aviation Administration and its airline customers about a software glitch on the 737 MAX that can disable an automated navigation feature after a pilot aborts a landing attempt, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The bug shows up when a flight crew changes its planned flight path following a missed approach. In certain scenarios, some autopilot functions become unavailable, according to the Journal, leaving pilots to fly manually at low altitude, potentially in bad weather or during other high-workload moments.

Boeing notified 737 operators in late August. "We shared information with operators that reinforced existing pilot procedures for safely handling such cases," Boeing said in a statement provided to multiple outlets, including CNBC and USA Today. "Our engineers are working on a software update to permanently address the issue."

Boeing has known about this since November 2024, according to Finwire's account of the Journal's reporting. The company initially decided the glitch didn't meet its internal criteria for a formal safety review. Only after airlines pushed back did Boeing open a formal review this month and share its findings with the FAA. Boeing has not publicly explained why the initial screening concluded the issue didn't warrant deeper scrutiny.

Airlines Are Not Waiting Around

Southwest Airlines and United Airlines, two of the largest 737 MAX operators, told Boeing they don't want new MAX jets delivered with the software version tied to the glitch, identified in reporting as Version U.14. They asked for an earlier version instead.

Southwest confirmed to CNBC that "none of our fleet is equipped with Version U.14, including new deliveries of Max 8 airplanes." United said the same. Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest and United all told the Journal that none of their current MAX jets are flying with the affected software.

Boeing said airlines have the option to revert to the older software version. But the company doesn't actually know how many MAX aircraft worldwide are running the newer, affected version, because airlines aren't required to notify Boeing when they install a software upgrade. There are roughly 2,422 to 2,430 MAX 8 and MAX 9 jets flying globally, according to aviation-data firm Cirium, cited by both the New York Post and CNBC.

The FAA's Response

The FAA said Saturday it is aware of "a potential issue in a software update for the flight computers on certain Boeing 737 MAX airplanes" and is working with Boeing and the airlines. "The FAA will convene a Corrective Action Review Board and will take immediate action if it identifies a safety concern," the agency said in a statement carried by USA Today and The Straits Times.

A senior FAA official told the Journal the agency is reviewing Boeing's proposed fix and will act if the problem is found to pose a safety risk. No such determination has been made public as of this writing. No grounding order, airworthiness directive, or enforcement action has been announced.

Boeing says pilots are trained to land manually without the automated system, that existing procedures already cover this scenario, and that it is working with airlines to formalize a way to reenable automated vertical navigation if the situation arises. This differs from the MCAS problem that caused the 2018 and 2019 crashes. Those two disasters, Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, killed 346 people combined and triggered a worldwide grounding that lasted until November 2020.

The fact that two of Boeing's biggest U.S. customers are refusing to accept new jets with this software, and that regulators are convening a formal safety board, suggests the airlines aren't fully satisfied with Boeing's own risk assessment. Boeing is calling something a non-safety issue while its own customers decline to fly it.

Timeline for a Fix

A permanent software fix was originally targeted for early 2028, according to TradingView's and Finwire's reporting on the Journal's story. Boeing said it is now working to accelerate that timeline given the scrutiny.

The glitch also complicates Boeing's push to finish out the MAX family. The FAA certified the smaller MAX 7 in early August with the newest software installed, and it's unclear whether that jet can be delivered or flown with an older software version instead. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg told investors earlier this month he expected FAA certification of the MAX 10 "very soon," a timeline this software problem could now complicate.

Boeing shares have fallen roughly 39% since the first MAX crash on October 29, 2018, from $324.59 to about $198 as of Friday's close, according to the New York Post's tracking of the stock. Whether the FAA's Corrective Action Review Board finds a safety concern, and how many MAX jets worldwide are actually flying with the affected software, remain open questions Boeing itself says it cannot yet answer.