Downfall: The Case Against Boeing

"Downfall: The Case Against Boeing" (2022 release; 98 min.) opens with a clever montage of the good ol' days when Boeing enjoyed a stellar reputation for its safety record. We then go to "Jakarta, Indonesia" flight 160 is taking off, and things go horribly wrong, crashing minutes after takeoff. The widow of the flight's captain recounts the events of the day. At this point we are 10 min into the film.

Couple of comments: this is the latest from veteran documentarian Rory Kennedy ("Ghosts of Abu Ghraib"). Here she reassesses what led to not one, but two Boeing 737 MAX crashes within months of each other. More in particular, we are shown how a company's culture started changing from "safety at any cost" to "profit at any cost" after Boeing merges with McDonnell Douglas in 1996. Along the way, we get a Boeing 101 history lesson on how a company so identified with Seattle lost the plot and moved its HQ to Chicago (in 2001). There are plenty of talking heads, none more so than Wall Street Journal airline industry specialist Andy Pasztor, who exposes it all, damning article after damning article. When Boeing finally settles the FAA defrauding charges for $2.5 billion dollars, we now know what the worth is of a human life for Boeing: you divide that by the number of people (349) killed in the 2 crashes, and you come to about $7 million per perished person. Bottom line: while this documentary doesn't contain any new revelation as such, it nevertheless is nothing short of a blistering indictment of Boeing and its management.

"Downfall: The Case Against Boeing" premiered on Netflix just the other day. If you are in the mood to witness firsthand how one of America's erstwhile most treasured companies falls from grace in its never-ending pursuit of "increasing shareholder value", I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

A complex story well told. Bare faced greed of senior management ends up in deaths. As usual, the worst part is lengths people go to engage in a cover up.

Great documentary. Had my eyes glued to the TV. To be honest I had a really bad day the other day and have been very depressed and in a weird ironic way this movie made me feel better. Watching all these families grieve in pain made my problems seem trivial and made me look at the world in a bigger picture. It's sad what America allows to happen. These rich scumbags walked away with millions and no criminal prosecution. That CEO Muillenburgh makes my skin crawl, felt like I was staring at the devil in my own opinion. America really is crooked and shady (only really cares about making money for the few) all at the expense of others lives and dignity. Was crazy to see that China was the first country to ground this jet and set the standard to stand up to these crooked businessmen.

Profit over people, sadly that's become the American way and why they are no longer world leaders, despite of course always thinking they are but American Ego would be another documentary.

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.