FAA Reviews Boeing 737 Max Glitch

Washington — The Federal Aviation Administration is reviewing a software problem in some Boeing 737 Max flight computers that can cause an automated altitude-guidance tool to switch off during a go-around — the moment when pilots abandon a landing and climb away to try again.

Boeing told all 737 operators about the issue last month. In statements to CBS News and Reuters, the company said the glitch can leave pilots without that particular automated flight-guidance aid in a specific landing scenario. Boeing said it reinforced existing pilot procedures, that autopilot can still work even if the altitude tool drops out, and that its engineers are building a permanent software fix. The company described the condition as not an immediate safety issue.

The FAA said it knows about a potential issue in a software update for flight computers on certain 737 Max airplanes and is working with Boeing and the airlines. The agency said it will convene a Corrective Action Review Board — a formal FAA panel that decides whether a problem is a safety concern and what must be done — and will act at once if it finds one.

What the glitch does

The problem sits in versions 14 and 14.1 of the operating system for the Max’s flight management computer, the onboard system that helps manage the flight plan. Under rare conditions — a missed approach during a precision approach (a landing guided by ground-based signals) with the autopilot on, after the crew changes the pre-programmed plan — the vertical navigation function, often called VNAV, can disengage. VNAV is the tool that automatically keeps the airplane on the planned altitude path between waypoints. If it drops out, the airplane can fall back to a simpler form of automated pitch control, and pilots must do extra work to manage the climb and the next approach.

CBS News reported that Boeing was first told of the issue by an airline in November 2024, reviewed it and in February 2025 judged it not a safety issue, then opened a formal safety review after more operator information earlier this year. Findings went to the FAA this month for the Corrective Action Review Board.

Airlines push back on deliveries

Southwest Airlines and United Airlines told Boeing they will not accept delivery of new aircraft with the affected operating system and want an earlier version instead, according to CBS News and reporting that cited the Wall Street Journal. United told the aviation news site Simple Flying it has no 737s in service with the new flight-management software and is not taking deliveries with it. Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest and United told CBS News that none of their in-service Max fleets use the software versions in question.

Why the timing matters

The Max 7 was certified with software version 14. The larger Max 10 used version 14.1 in certification testing. CBS News reported that an FAA review could further delay Max 10 certification, which had been thought to be close, and could affect deliveries of the recently certified Max 7, much of whose order book is tied to Southwest. Boeing’s initial bulletin pointed to a software fix sometime in 2028 and updated pilot guidance in November; the company said it is trying to speed both up.

The Max family has a hard safety history: two crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people and led to a worldwide grounding, and a mid-flight door-panel blowout on an Alaska Airlines Max in January 2024. That history is why several U.S. carriers are taking a trust-but-verify approach to new software even when Boeing says the latest issue is not an immediate threat.

What happens next

The Corrective Action Review Board has not yet published an outcome. Whether the FAA orders an airworthiness directive — a binding fix — whether Max 10 certification waits on the review, and how fast Boeing can field a software update are the open questions. None of the reports cited here linked the glitch to a crash or near-miss.