On 29 October 2018, a Boeing 737 MAX aircraft departed from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Jakarta, Indonesia. The aircraft was less than three months old. Twelve minutes later, it had crashed, killing all 189 passengers and crew on board. On 10 March 2019, another Boeing 737 MAX aircraft departed from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, Ethiopia. This aircraft was less than four months old. Six minutes later, it too had crashed, killing all 157 passengers and crew on board. This paper presents an analysis as to why these two accidents happened.