Those crashes prompted global groundings and an extensive investigation which revealed that the FAA had essentially abdicated its oversight responsibility - while one internal Boeing email blasted the MAX 8 for being designed by "clowns who were overseen by monkeys".
As if the crash itself wasn't embarrassing enough for the jet-maker, footage of the incident showing the plane essentially falling out of the sky has been seen by thousands, if not millions, of people, many of whom are already hoping for answers.
Chinese airlines haven't bought any new Boeing planes for years at this point, and Monday's crash raises the possibility that Boeing could be barred from the world's second-largest market for air travel.
Local Chinese media reported shortly afterward that the crash had been caused by an electrical failure, but whether this is actually true remains unclear. At this point, little is known for certain about the circumstances surrounding the crash (and it will take investigators days, if not weeks, to examine the data from the plane's "black box", which must be recovered from the crash site in a mountainous region in Guangxi Province.
Comment: See also: Horrifying moment Boeing 737 passenger jet carrying 132 people plummets 30,000ft to the ground before bursting into flames in remote Chinese mountains