Boeing Ordered to Pay $29 Million to Irish Plane Crash Victim's Family

A jury in Chicago has awarded $29 million in damages to the family of Michael Ryan, an Irish aid worker who died in the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash. The civil suit was brought against Boeing by his widow, Naoise Connolly Ryan.

The crash, which occurred shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa, killed all 157 passengers and crew. It was the second fatal accident involving a Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft in five months, following the Lion Air Flight 610 crash in Indonesia in October 2018.

Investigations into both incidents pointed to a malfunctioning Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), a new flight control feature on the 737 MAX. The system repeatedly forced the aircraft's nose down, overriding pilot commands.

Boeing faced intense scrutiny and a global grounding of its 737 MAX fleet for 20 months following the disasters. The manufacturer eventually paid $2.5 billion to resolve a US Justice Department criminal charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States, admitting two of its employees misled federal aviation regulators about the MCAS.