Downfall: L'affaire Boeing

This movie is good as far as it goes but stops short of illuminating a missing link in the chain of failure that killed hundreds of people. Boeing took a calculated risk and were tragically wrong as far as the 737 Max redesign. Every transportation business faces a cost - benefit analysis in the production of their vehicles, The government is charged with the responsibility of ensuring the safety of these vehicles prior to certifying them for use. In this case the agency responsible is the FAA. It would be safe to assume air travel carries the heaviest burden for any agency other than perhaps the FDA. With this in mind one would think that only the best trained people would be placed in leadership of such an important agency. This is not the case, not even close. Boeing's redesign of the 737 was carried out and certified under the directorship of Michael Huerta at. The FAA. Mr. Huerta's education is listed in Wikipedia as: "Huerta received his bachelor's degree in political science from the University of California, Riverside and his master's in international relations from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University." If as a casual observer you question how much a political science major knows about the intricacies of the aerospace industry, you hit the core issue. Huerta could easily be called a political appointment without the technical knowledge to lead an agency as vital as the FAA. This type of appointment was neither rare previously nor has it been changed today. The latest director has the following education as listed by Wikipedia: Homendy is a native of Plainville, Connecticut. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Pennsylvania State University and is a master's candidate at Clemson University. Notice the absence of what degrees she achieved, she is purely a political appointment. Neither of these people have the expertise to lead a safety agency.

Clearly Boeing failed it's workers, investors, and the flying public. They will be held accountable and pay dearly for their mistakes. Unfortunately this movie missed the elephant in the room, our safety agencies need to be cleared of political appointments and experts installed in those positions. Your life is in the hands of people profiting from placing you in danger. They exist in both the industry and in the agencies responsible for protecting you.

The saddest story is that ... whole world runs like this.

In every single big corporation, especially after merges, there's literally not about a product you build, but about ... charts for shareholders.

Maybe ... if you are a corporate like Boeing, and if somebody dies, then maybe a CEO, maybe all of the shareholders should be questioned because it's actually them who are responsible. One by one. Not Boeing company. It's them. First shareholder, second, third, CEO etc.

Many companies lost it's reputation because of shareholders greed. It's so unfair that they have absolutely no responsibility. All they do is taking money, and actually ruining company values from inside, for the sake of their own profit.

In every newspaper there shouldn't be: boeing this, boeing that. Maybe if every newspaper would mention specifically shareholders by name, maybe this would change something. Public opinion would have chance to "meet" them. All the hate is targeted at Boeing, but it's NOT boeing. It's the people behind. They have name. They are human beings. Not giving documents fast enough is not Boeing. It's specific people. Name, by name.

I read a lot about this. One of the greatest articles is from a guy who was both a pilot and a software engineer. In short - what Boeing did with this 737max plane was that, they tried to fix hardware issues (plane they designed badly), with software. This plane should never fly.

Boeing CEO Dennis A. Muilenburg resigns and walks away with $62 million. It's a wonderful world. And that's how everything works in this country: it's all for the money. Only money matters. 346 people died because Boeing executives only care about money.

What a truly fascinating watch this was, a documentary that truly does not hold back. As someone that follows the news with interest, I remember watching news of both tragic crashes with horror, and in both cases, it was definitely the theory that both were due to pilot error, this gives you the true story.

It's almost brutal, it really does put Boeing, and its executives, indeed its company ethos to the sword, initially I thought the documentary focused too much on Boeing's history, but in hindsight it's all in context, it's all fully relevant, and all explained.

The eighties were amazing in so many ways, awful in others, definitely the era of greed, in The UK we had Thatcher, for The U. S. Wall Street, you will see here the consequences of a Company for whom the only focus is profit.

The camera footage of the worker being told about missing parts is on of the most shocking things I've seen for some time.

It's very well made, with some fascinating interviews, it's more on the factual side that the sensational side.

A fascinating documentary, 9/10.

Great documentary, even though I would love more insights into the technical aspects of the issue (fortunately YouTube exists for that. Great content going deep into MCAS).

The only thing that seems strange to me is the way they picture FAA as just another victim. Several stories from the time covered in depth the nuances of their relationship and the leeway FAA provided Boeing in these certification matters. The reluctance of FAA to ground planes is a sign of that. Some even argue this was the FAA acting to protect Boeing commercially instead of caring for US passengers safety.