Justin Xu
bod@worldmun.org
Justin Xu, a junior in Lowell House from Delaware, studies Applied Mathematics and Mechanical Engineering with a secondary in Government at Harvard. Outside of WorldMUN, he staffs several other Harvard Model UN conferences, is a researcher for the Harvard Undergraduate Think Tank, and plays viola in the Harvard Pops Orchestra. He enjoys swimming, cooking, 3D printing, traveling, and enjoying the tranquility of the Charles River in his free time.
Topic: 737-MAX Groundings
In 2018 and 2019, two flights of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft operated respectively by Lion Air, an Indonesian airline, and Ethiopian Airlines, fatally crashed, resulting in a collective 346 deaths. While Boeing initially suggested pilot error was at fault, after investigation, notices were quickly sent out regarding flaws in the design of the aircraft, mainly concerning an engine too large and faulty software that overcompensated in correcting this — dubbed the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS). Shortly after, the United States grounded the aircraft, and many regulatory bodies around the world quickly followed suit. This led to a crisis for Boeing, which had long depended on the 737 as one of the most successful product lines. With many pending orders from airlines around the world, the grounding of the 737 MAX made the future of Boeing look grim.
This committee begins shortly after the crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 and the subsequent grounding by the United States’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). With the company in crisis after hundreds of people died and doubts and lack of trust in the company's engineering, testing, and design teams, the Board of Directors is now assembled to react to these tragic accidents and the aftermath, and to determine personnel, strategy, and public policy responses within the board, within the executive leadership of the company, and beyond.