Boeing are broken

My Boeing scrapbook. I am updating this fairly often. I try to get them all but the horror stories come faster than I can remember to grab them. It is now huge.

The terrible saga of Boeing’s fall continues.  It has become a definitive case study of how corporate Friedmanism destroys a strong and healthy company culture by prioritising shareholder wealth over values, ethics, and human lives. This evil is the biggest force that Open Management struggles against.

An excellent summary of the whole #Boeing saga up to 2024

This is a definitive assessment from the IEEE. And damning of Boeing and of software engineers. 346 people are dead because of bad design. Read this. “a cultural laziness within the software engineering community… it’s so easy to fix what you didn’t get right later.” 

The flaw in the design of the control system is clear [April 29, 2019] . People are tiptoeing around it only because Boeing will be sued for billions with so many dead. 

“US FAA said the agency inspected several planes that Boeing had certified as free of such debris and found the same metal slivers.“ In my mind I used to equate Boeing with bulletproof and worry about fancy plastic Airbus. 

A good insider history here 

For a profound philosophical POV, read this to understand the games Boeing played with the moniker “737” to evade scrutiny.

Nothing to see here “Traditionally, IAG has flown Airbus on short-haul routes and favored Boeing for long-haul, but CEO decided … supplying the 737 MAX to British Airways, Iberia, Vueling, Aer Lingus, and Level… worth over $24 billion.” 

*NOW* the FAA are finding another risk in the Boeing 737 Max?

The thing I loved about Boeing was they were bullet proof, not like those plastic-and-electronic Airbuses. #FaithLost. 

Nailed it: Boeing‘s Corner Cutting Cost a Fortune and 346 Lives  

prioritising shareholder value is a discredited concept. Think Enron, or Boeing. 

New Republic said:

“It smacked of the sort of screwup a 23-year-old intern might have made—and indeed, much of the software on the MAX had been engineered by recent grads of Indian software-coding academies making as little as $9 an hour, part of Boeing management’s endless war on the unions”

“Most pilots first heard about MCAS from their unions, which had in turn gotten wind of the software from a supplementary bulletin Boeing sent airlines to accompany the airworthiness directive. Outraged, they took to message boards”

This tale should make everyone very angry. Not with the $9 programmers. Not even with Boeing. Be angry with the filthy greed-is-good Friedmanism that brought down Boeing and brought up Trump. I’m not anticapitalist. I’m anti unethical capitalism.

I have high hopes that the Boeing debacle will be a signal event to execs and boards that ethics matter. Volkswagen didn’t hurt enough but Boeing is really going to suffer.

346 people are dead and the Boeing CEO hasn’t resigned. 

O dear,  Boeing had a bad week. I know [346] people who had a worse one recently. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/03/boeing-737-max-crashes-draw-lawmawker-calls-for-ceos-resignation-wall-street-says-not-so-fast.html

Boeing have completely rewritten the automation software whilst under immense pressure to get the plane flying again. What could possibly go wrong? (It also implies the prior deadly system was hacked from an “antiquated system”) https://www.businessinsider.com.au/boeing-737-max-flight-computer-redesign-delay-simulator-2019-11?r=US&IR=T

the moment Boeing’s leadership decided to divorce itself from the firm’s own culture. Stupid elitist arrogance. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/11/how-boeing-lost-its-bearings/602188/

Seriously, Boeing has a culture problem https://liveandletsfly.com/787-lightning-protection/

I’ll grant that Boeing is gonna have to change a lot fast, but they have brought that on themselves and they will pay the cost of too-fast change. 

Boeing is a case study in the toxicity of Friedmanism. It poisoned what was an excellent engineering culture.

“Boeing’s response has been an ugly mixture of remorse, evasion and swagger” I hope Boeing will be the bellwether of the fall of shareholder capitalism and a rise of social capitalism https://www.economist.com/leaders/2019/12/18/boeings-misplaced-strategy-on-the-737-max

Boeing have a problem. https://www.airlive.net/breaking-the-faa-confirmed-reviewing-a-potentially-catastrophic-wiring-issue-that-could-cause-a-short-circuit-on-the-boeing-737max/

The 737 Max is I think unique in the laxness of the FAA oversight, the rush by Boeing, the level of outsourcing of design, and the fall of their own quality culture in the factories.

Boeing paid a $5M fine to the FCC. Watch them get $5B back. [I was out by an order of magnitude. After Covid they got $58B]

I used to say about Boeing “they may not be elegant but they’re bulletproof”. Hah!!

$5M fine for Boeing. That’s a slap on the finger. FAA complicity continues.  https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/10/faa-fines-boeing-5point4-million-for-defective-737-max-parts.html

I confess I WANT this to cause irreperable damage to Boeing. I don’t want what is going to happen: the govenrment bail them out and absolve them. I want the ruins of Boeing to stand as a monument to toxic corporate Friedmanism, like a collapsed bridge. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-14/lion-air-idiots-sought-more-max-training-boeing-thwarted-it

Will Boeing make real change or slap on a coat of paint? The world is too impatient for real change. It took a decade to bork the company and it will take a decade to fix it. So look for the quick fix: epoxy and sandpaper. Courtesy of a big consultancy.

This steams me up. Blame the staff. How about Boeing start by fixing the governance and values? Then change the management (the way they manage, and some of the senior staff). And move them back to Seattle. THEN they can talk about fiddling with structure. Starting with restructure signals to me change theatre. Restructure should be a lagging indicator of change, not the start. And I’m sure their pilots and engineers are the least of their problems. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-15/boeing-reshuffles-pilots-after-max-crisis-exposes-dysfunction

So assuming 5% profit margins, Boeing‘s fine is the profit from about 10 planes.

The EU fines Airbus $4 billion for bribery. Nobody dead. The FAA fines Boeing $50 million for unsafe planes. 340 people are dead. US morality on show. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jan/31/airbus-to-pay-record-3bn-in-fines-for-endemic-corruption

“Boeing patched a software code error just two hours before the vehicle reentered Earth’s atmosphere.” Fail fast. https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/02/starliner-faced-catastrophic-failure-before-software-bug-found/

Has Boeing identified its culture as the issue? No.

Have there been Board changes? No.

The first thing they did was reorg their pilots.

Their focus now is fast-tracking the Max, and redesigning a future plane. Totally oblivious. https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/first-time-since-1962-boeing-s-woes-continue-as-it-takes-zero-orders-20200212-p53zxt.html

Boeing haven’t sunk to the bottom of the hole yet…. As an org, they deserve this. The individuals don’t. https://www.businessinsider.com.au/boeing-737-max-prosecutors-investigation-prosecutors-lied-faa-2020-2?r=US&IR=T

More evidence that Boeing is doing absolutely nothing about their culture problem.  Blame the pilots. https://thewofa.com/2020/03/boeing-ceo-blames-pilots-for-737-max-crashes/

Four 787s all lost navigational control on approach to Hong Kong. Not another Boeing glitch? https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/transport/article/3074040/hong-kong-aviation-authorities-probe-loss-control-landing

More Boeing. Can we have the 747s back please. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/06/faa-proposes-fining-boeing-19point7-million-over-737-airplane-sensors.html

And MORE Boeing. https://qz.com/1814088/nasa-launches-new-investigation-into-troubled-boeing-spacecraft/

If it was that marginal that the idea has been turned down, why the **** would Boeing even propose it? Profit over safety, that’s why. Boeing has a culture problem. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-boeing-737max/boeing-proposal-to-avoid-max-wiring-shift-does-not-win-u-s-support-idUSKBN20W018 

Boeing: Safety Second. “the government proceeded to certify the plane first and address those issues later due to pressure from Boeing.” https://airlinerwatch.com/canadian-government-ignored-concerns-of-test-pilots-during-the-approval-of-737-max/

“Not only did safety improve,… also changed the relationship between managers and teams and enhanced the culture as a whole.” [No, of course it wasn’t Boeing] https://ft.com/content/01d79f38-6503-11ea-a6cd-df28cc3c6a68… There is a pattern of orgs whose boss makes safety the top priority which leads to .the whole org perfomance improving Alcoa is a famous one. And one of the American railroads. UP? Can anyone confirm?

Forget both internal and extenal competition. It was a fixation on business competition that ruined the Boeing culture. Fixate on truth beauty and goodness, and let the competitors worry about you.

$58billion for Boeing. It must be nice to know that no matter how much you fuck up a company as CEO, you’ll still personally get $60million parachute and the govt will save the company anyway. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesasquith/2020/03/20/confidence-boost-boeing-will-never-fail-the-largest-aviation-and-industry-stimulus-package-since-wwii-is-imminent/#739e616014d8

Boeing couldn’t build a paper plane right now. They need some profound cultural change and they won’t be able to do it fast enough. Never mind flight shaming or Corona. Boeing are doing far more to keep people off airplanes.https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/04/after-troubled-first-flight-boeing-will-refly-starliner-without-crew

More damning Boeing. They so lost the plot. https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/9/21197162/boeing-737-max-software-hardware-computer-fcc-crash

Guess who will have to pay to bail out Boeing after the collapse of their engineering culture. https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/04/a-nasa-analysis-of-boeings-lunar-cargo-delivery-plan-is-very-unflattering/

More quality issues in the notorious Charleston factory of Boeing. https://theaircurrent.com/aviation-safety/boeing-pulls-eight-787s-from-service-over-structural-issue   The only planes Boeing are pulling are those with TWO connected defects.
“hellbent on making rate”. Boeing have a serious and tragic culture problem. Will they fix it? No intent shown so far.

Now the horizontal stabilser on the Dreamliner. I think Boeing are now piling it on to numb the world.
This is almost beyond belief
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/08/business/boeing-787-flaw-orders-deliveries/index.html

Still sinking at the end of 2020

“broader quality-control checks, covering the entire fuselage of the planes rather than just certain sections around the tail”

Former Boeing CEO Raising $200 Million for SPAC Revealing true colours. Was Muilenburg’s passion to make the world’s best aircraft? Or to get rich?

The leader counts for everything. And reflects the culture of those hiring.
Friedmanism is toxic.

Psychological safety: here’s a good article from Jon Smart (from his book) https://itrevolution.com/lack-of-psychological-safety-at-boeing

Shareholders’ suit citing internal Boeing documents alleges board didn’t act as fast on safety as CEO David Calhoun said https://www.wsj.com/articles/boeing-ceo-said-board-moved-quickly-on-max-safety-new-details-suggest-otherwise-11613246646

“quality and safety-oversight lapses going back years…

The Federal penalty is – as usual – pocket change: $6.6M, for “quality and safety-oversight lapses going back years”

But the hole Boeing is in just keeps getting deeper “structural integrity flaws embedded deep inside at least 88 parked 787s “.
That’s what you get folks for making shareholder value over engineering values.
The sharp suits ruined that company. https://t.co/iy2vvHkA4j

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-boeing-787-insight/boeing-hit-with-6-6-million-faa-fine-faces-much-bigger-787-repair-bill-sources-idUSKBN2AP2SL

Is it just possible that Boeing are trying to restore engineering culture? Or will this be another bungie boss trying to save a sinking ship while the governors make holes?
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-boeing-737max-clark-idUSKBN2B42OV

April 2021: more 737MAX grounded.

This is now well into farce.

#Boeing engineering culture is so broken. Quality gone.

You watch: there will still be zero acknowledgement that this is a Friedmanist culture problem. Everything will still be about profit and shareprice.

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/4/9/boeing-grounds-dozens-of-737-max-jets-due-to-manufacturing-flaw

If that was farce, what is this a week later? More electrical problems found on some Boeing 737 Max, sources say

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/16/more-electrical-problems-found-on-some-boeing-737-max-sources-say-.html

The Boeing Co. has quietly recalled at least some of as many as 900 quality control inspectors who were laid off in 2019 as part of a drive to adopt car-industry manufacturing processes in aerospace manufacturing.
https://leehamnews.com/2021/05/18/boeing-rehires-aircraft-inspectors/

And yet still no admission the Boeing’s problems are systemic and cultural, nor any apparent appetite to address that.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/13/boeing-787-dreamliner-manufacturing-flaws.html

‘Designed by clowns…supervised by monkeys:’ Internal Boeing messages

https://fortune.com/2020/01/10/designed-clowns-supervised-monkeys-internal-boeing-messages-slam-737-max/

It just doesn’t stop. Boeing quality has gone to hell

https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/faa-issues-new-directive-boeing-737-max-over-potential-fire-suppression-issue-2021-08-05

Here’s a great article by Jon Smart about the broken culture: the lack of psychological safety.

Lack of Psychological Safety at Boeing

Nope, not gonna change. Screw humanity https://www.marketwatch.com/story/faa-to-review-boeing-employee-reports-of-feeling-pressure-over-safety-issues-11629777111

I would say Boeing are not in a position to be debating quality-assurance methods with regulators right now

https://t.co/NeF9kUBdizhttps://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/boeing-787-dreamliner-deliveries-not-likely-to-resume-until-late-october-report/news-story/10817caceab92acac70d74ea7855eefd

Kill your engineering culture and outsource your manufacturing and this is what you get https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2021/9/3/air-force-boeing-trying-to-tackle-tanker-challenges

This is getting monotonous.

https://www.todayonline.com/world/boeing-uncovers-another-defect-787-dreamliner

I won’t be getting in one of these Boeings

“we know the normal rules were compromised in the MAX program, and this aircraft was built at the same time under the same regime. I can’t understand why the 777X with all its novelties was ticketed as a derivative, while it’s not when you build a new aircraft….

“It was a clear case of relaxation, the eye came off the ball as far as the FAA was concerned as to what in this case Boeing was doing, with the FAA inspectors becoming Boeing employees. We found that in a survey that was conducted recently 30% of the employees interviewed said that in their views safety was being compromised in the pursuit of profit. “

And yet there is clearly zero appetite for Boeing to fix its culture. instead the handsome men in suits are putting the foot down to the metal and trying to drive straight through this process as if nothing were wrong.

More people are going to die for shareholder profit. https://www.airlineratings.com/news/emirates-boss-lashes-boeing-organizational-problems

Boeing Built an Unsafe Plane, and Blamed the Pilots When It Crashed

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-11-16/are-boeing-planes-unsafe-pilots-blamed-for-corporate-errors-in-max-737-crash

I’m getting tired of tracking the shit storm that is Boeing.
The door “areas” now …
https://www.wsj.com/articles/boeing-dreamliner-defects-bog-down-production-11637335164

“deep corporate rot going back years, and continuing long after responsible leadership should have reversed course.”

It’s obvious to many, but apparently not to the Boeing shareholders or board. https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/editorials/hold-leadership-accountable-for-disastrous-boeing-ethos

Former Boeing test pilot found not guilty of deceiving FAA

Thank goodness justice has been served. It is despicable (but entirely on form) that Boeing set this poor man up as the fall guy. What a thing to go through.

May 2022 and still lost.  Moving HQ from Chicago to Washington DC.

“Boeing’s problem is not with government relations,” he said. “I don’t see doubling down the emphasis on D.C. lobbying as a breakthrough moment. It looks like a recipe for more of the same.”

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/boeing-reportedly-moving-headquarters-to-virginia/

It’s July 2022 and Boeing still trying to get this dog to fly.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-27/boeing-737-max-in-mid-air-emergencies-as-us-set-to-launch-probe/101175214

Sept 22 and Boeing uses political muscle to force a way past safety controls.
What could possibly go wrong.

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/with-two-max-models-at-risk-congress-moves-to-give-boeing-a-break/

“but for Boeing’s criminal conspiracy to defraud the FAA, 346 people would not have lost their lives in the crashes”
– US District Judge Reed O’Connor

Michele Zanini on how exactly the same thing happened to General Motors – the bean-counters killed it.

I gave up tracking for a while, but the shit-storm goes on and on.  The critical rear bulkheads now….

The end of 2023 and Boeing still can’t do up nuts.

2024 starts with https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/boeing-wants-faa-to-exempt-max-7-from-safety-rules-to-get-it-in-the-air/

Boeing care only about profits not safety

A day later

On the same day, in unfortunate timing https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202401/02/WS65936ac8a3105f21a507a0ca.html

federal securities lawsuit accusing Spirit of deliberately covering up systematic quality-control problems, encouraging workers to undercount defects, and retaliating against those who raised safety concerns….

According to Spirit’s own Securities and Exchange Commission filings, the company’s “business depends largely on sales of components for a single aircraft program, the B737,”

https://jacobin.com/2024/01/alaska-airlines-boeing-parts-malfunction-workers-spirit-aerosystems

While the 900ER is not part of Boeing’s newer Max fleet, it has an identical mid-exit door plug design. Some operators had “noted findings with bolts” during additional checks on the 900ER, the FAA said, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/22/faa-boeing-737-planes-inspect-door-plugs

the head of the FAA saying they believe there are “other manufacturing problems” at Boeing.

here is a great summation of how Friedmanist management is still destroying Boeing.

“many problems with brand-new airplanes. Stabilizer trim motor failures, dual fight management computer failures and engine anti-ice systems that can overheat and damage the engine inlet’s structure” – Boeing whistleblower

“When the MAX was grounded in May 2019 for what would be 21 months, Boeing laid off many of its final assembly line workers. When the COVID-19 pandemic began in May 2020, Boeing laid off or offered early retirement to thousands or workers company wide, including more from the 737 FAL. When production resumed in May 2021, ahead of the recertification the following November, Boeing had to hire new employees without FAL experience.”
…and here we are.
Also…
“Under the regime of former CEO Dennis Muilenburg, quality inspectors were laid off and their duties assigned to others. Boeing’s touch-labor union, the IAM 751, protested that this was unsafe. The protests largely fell on deaf ears.”
Friedmanism laid the foundation for failure. Lay-offs topped it off.

This is revealing of what’s wrong at Boeing

“We’ve got literally armies of people from Boeing and the supplier working on this issue and to drive stability in their factory”

You dont need “armies of people” running after the latest crisis, dragged away from their actual work, which will only further degrade in quality.

And you don’t “drive stability” to get better quality work. Beatings will continue until morale improves.

And you don’t blame your supplier when you chose to reduce your own factories and outsource to the lowest bidder.

How a great engineering firm has fallen to the accountants and MBAs.

The last two problems with the #Boeing 737 Max haven’t been about the wrong percentage in an alloy in superheated turbines, or a software bug triggered by three unusual conditions, or a pioneering paint that failed after years. Boeing’s aircraft are failing because they can’t put nuts on bolts properly.

While all this “fully and transparently” blather is coming out of Boeing, never forget their first response to the Max crisis was to try to blame pilots, including their own test pilots.

twenty years too late “Boeing is shifting its employee bonus formula from finances to safety and quality” https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/08/business/boeing-bonus-formula-safety-quality/index.html

Boeing was always profitable. The suits from M-D thought it was their job to squeeze even more.

Making profit the goal destroys the company.

They need a balanced scorecard and/or triple bottom line or some other way to pay on a diversity of metrics.

But their problems are much deeper than choice of KPIs….

Can’t do the bolts up properly.

Can’t design software for failure modes.

Don’t test parts in the cold 

“The NTSB said that when it subjected one of the removed parts to cold for one hour in a laboratory, it failed to produce the torque needed for the rudder pedals to work” https://thehill.com/homenews/ap/ap-business/ap-investigators-say-they-confirmed-pilots-account-of-a-rudder-control-failure-on-a-boeing-max-jet/amp/

Once a paragon of quality, Boeing’s focus on its stock price has caused hundreds to die. https://jalopnik.com/john-oliver-explains-how-all-of-boeings-problems-can-be-1851315604

Amid a federal investigation into what caused a door plug to blow off a Boeing 737 Max 9 jet in January, a Boeing top official said the company cannot find documents about the door plug and it’s likely that such records never existed. https://www.npr.org/2024/03/09/1237204488/boeing-door-plug-alaska-airlines-investigation

it just doesn’t end.

“This wiring issue can cause uncommanded rolls in flight that could lead to losses of control”

Wiring Issue Latest of 737 MAX Troubles

When I first started working at Boeing, I was loaned out to the executive coaches and consultants that served the C-suite. Over drinks, they’d tell me about the things you hear about in the news today – That the CEO didn’t want to hear bad news. That if you came to him with a problem, he wasn’t there to help you solve it. He only wanted to hear solutions.
It was creating huge safety issues – especially with the 787 – people were lying because the truth wasn’t “on schedule and within budget.”
Toxic cultures have consequences. We’re seeing the toxic consequences of that leader today.
If your workplace prioritizes comfort, forcing out anyone they see as a troublemaker or “rocking the boat,” it’s detrimental to people – both in and outside of the company.

March 2024 Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary disclosed that their engineers have found spanners belonging to Boeing in their new 737 MAXs. https://aviationsourcenews.com/airline/boeing-spanners-found-in-ryanair-737-maxs/

How Boeing broke down: Inside the series of leadership failures that hobbled the airline giant

the company’s Chief Financial Officer, Brian West,… acknowledge that Boeing has made mistakes. ” For years, we prioritized the movement of the airplane through the factory over getting it done right’

https://www.npr.org/2024/04/12/1244147895/boeing-whistleblower-retaliation-shortcuts-787-dreamliner

May 2024 and still in freefall.  Boeing staff falsified Dreamliner inspection records required to confirm adequate electrical safeguards where the wings join the main body of certain of its 787 Dreamliners

Another day, another Boeing revelation. “a lot of missing fasteners, a lot of bent parts, sometimes even missing parts” on Spirit fuselages that were due to be shipped to Boeing.

Also I hadn’t heard this gem before: According to investigators, the door that blew off had originally been fitted by Spirit, but had subsequently been removed by Boeing technicians to rectify faulty riveting.

In June 2024, the Department of Justice determined that Boeing had violated the terms of a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement — that included a fine, a payout to airlines and a fund for crash victims’ families — by failing to create and enforce an anti-fraud ethics and compliance program.

In related news, Boeing also agreed to plead guilty to a felony fraud charge and pay a new fine in connection with two 737 Max 8 crashes … to avert a federal criminal trial on a charge that it conspired to defraud federal regulators about its 737 Max 8 and requirements for pilot training. 

A fuel line fractured, spewing flaming fuel in flight. It just goes on and on. Boeing are ****ed.

NASA criticises Boeing for “Mismanagement and inexperience”. BOEING!!! How can their engineering culture have fallen so low? We all know the answer.
“Mismanagement and inexperience on the part of Boeing are creating severe delays and expenditures for NASA’s efforts to return Americans to the moon, according to a new report from the agency’s office of the inspector general (OIG). The 38-page document, released Wednesday, paints the manufacturer’s quality control practices as inadequate and its workforce as insufficiently trained, blaming it for cost increases and schedule delays in the development of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS)”

And

NASA says “we’re looking at the data, and we view the data and the uncertainty that’s there differently than Boeing does. It’s not a matter of trust. It’s our technical expertise and our experience that we have to balance.” Ken Bowersox, associate administrator of Nasa’s space operations mission directorate, acknowledged the “tense discussions” that Nasa has had with Boeing before going on to say: “People have emotional investment in either option and that gives you a healthy discourse. But after that, you have to do some work to to keep your team together, to keep your team restored and ready for the next issue and I’ll acknowledge that we have some work to do there.” 

This week’s new horror about Boeing in August 2024  is that they concealed information from the inquiries into the 737 MAX deaths, including wiring defects and an uncommanded roll at low altitude.
Remember, the initial payout to the victims was about the same as the payout to their CEO, $50M. The rest had to be forced out of them through the courts, including when they pled guilty to fraud.

Now we learn “build records for the aircraft involved in the Ethiopian accident, leaked by Boeing employees…paint a clear picture of the confusing and chaotic production operations going on at the 737 factory… a lack of electrical parts, missing and improperly installed wiring, and employees being placed under extreme pressure to rework defective parts… this connects to electrical issues it says were suffered by the plane in the weeks and months leading up to the crash. A further document allegedly describes an incident involving the same aircraft, three weeks after it had been delivered … the plane suffered an uncommanded roll at low altitude while preparing to land. This was later attributed to an intermittent fault with wiring… these documents were concealed from government authorities, law enforcement, airline customers, victim families, and the public.”

The pinnacle of Friedmanism.

The appointment of Kelly Ortberg as another CEO is a positive sign as at least he comes from an engineering background. And he says the right things. In October 2024: Executives need to be “closely integrated… We need to be on the factory floors, in the back shops and in our engineering labs… We need to know what’s going on, not only with our products, but with our people. And most importantly, we need to prevent the festering of issues and work better together to identify, fix, and understand root cause.”

Boeing lost a space contract that should have been theirs to SpaceX. NASA has clearly lost confidence.

Boeing to lay off nearly 400 employees in Washington. These layoffs add to over 2,000 Washington jobs the company has cut so far in 2024.

Jeju Air crash. On BSky “A second South Korean Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 faced landing gear issues but returned safely, Yonhap reports. South Korea has ordered inspections of all Boeing 737-800s in the country.”

New [April 2025] Boeing 787 Fault Leaves Unsuspecting Pilots Disconnected From Air Traffic Control 

Pilots could miss instructions to maintain safe separation from other aircraft, avoid mid-air collisions and prevent runway incursions.

June 2025 and MAX problems are still surfacing: NTSB issues urgent safety bulletin warning: Air from the left engine on a 737 Max flows directly into the cockpit while air from the right engine flows into the passenger cabin [that seems an odd design decision]… a December 2023 incident in which a Southwest Airlines plane struck a bird while taking off from New Orleans and had to land quickly after thick smoke filled the cockpit — even making it hard for the pilot to see the instrument panel or his copilot. In an incident nine months earlier involving another Southwest 737 Max, smoke filled the cabin after a bird strike after takeoff in Havana.

https://komonews.com/news/local/ntsb-issues-urgent-safety-bulletin-boeing-737-max-bird-strikes-smoke-in-cockpit-engine-safety-malfunction-burning-oil-airplanes-pilots-faa

Boeing failed to provide training to prevent MAX 9 midair emergency: NTSB

The US agency harshly criticised Boeing’s safety culture as well as ineffective oversight by the FAA.

Boeing failed to provide adequate training, guidance and oversight to prevent a midair cabin panel blowout of a new 737 MAX 9 flight in January 2024

Yessir, Boing are so safety conscious:

The tail-heavy 737-900ER is notorious for “tail-sitting” at the gate, requiring a stand to prevent the center of gravity from shifting behind the main landing gear and tipping the plane backward. In the water, this tail-down attitude submerges the rear doors so that opening them against immense water pressure is nearly impossible and could lead to catastrophic flooding, sinking the aircraft much faster.  https://www.jalopnik.com/1895786/737-water-landing-rear-exits/

2026 and we are still going…

31,000 Boeing 737 MAX Seats May ‘Disengage’ From Their Tracks In Severe Turbulence, FAA Says

“Boeing now inspects the seat installations before aircraft leave the factory” so apparently they didn’t before.

FAA orders inspection of hundreds of 737 Max jets for cracks (again)

that “could reduce the aircraft’s structural integrity.”