Downfall: The Case Against Boeing (2022)Netflix documentary
Whenever I see the tagline at a particular private medical centre that reads "We Care", I cringe. I tell myself that it should be reading "We Care, right! - Only for your money!" Somehow when a business entity says such a thing, it sounds ingenuine. More and more, we notice these foolhardy manoeuvres hiding behind informed consent and pages of indecipherable agreement terms.
Multinational companies move in with their big budgets and high-rolling executives to portray an image of purity and magnanimity, teaching smaller firms how to practise fair trade. In reality, they are no more than fly-by-night snake oil salesmen who would disappear at the crack of dawn. Over the past few years, the shenanigans of Boeing, the mega-conglomerate which made more than half of the world's planes, has come to light.
First, in late 2018, a brand new Boeing 737 Max belonging to Lion Air of Indonesia went plunging down into the Java Straits at full throttle soon after takeoff. Boeing executives were quick to deny that a brand new Boeing could be anything but faulty. They alleged, condescendingly, that the pilot did not know how to fly. 189 people perished.
Five months later, in 2019, another Boeing 737 Max crashed in Ethiopia. Soon after takeoff, with minimal warning, it took a nosedive into some hills killing all 157 onboard. The executives, this time, said that the pilots did not read or understand the flying manuals.
Only after their black boxes were found did a possibility of a significant design flaw be entertained. Boeing started cutting corners in their zest to stay afloat and maintain profitability after its merger with McDonnell Douglas. To continue the lion's shares in the aeroplane building business over its European rival Airbus, but not able to produce a new design, Boeing kept churning out bigger 737s. It introduced the 737 Max series with the MCAS system. The MCAS was a device working in the background of the array of plane computers to keep this big machine stable in the air. The trouble was that it had the power to control the ship independently, and the worse part was that none of the Boeings pilots was ever made aware or trained on MCAS.
In both of the cases, the MCAS sensors went faulty. The plane engines went rogue and just crashed with no chance for the captains to realise what went wrong and react. It all happened in mere 10 seconds.
Multinational companies move in with their big budgets and high-rolling executives to portray an image of purity and magnanimity, teaching smaller firms how to practise fair trade. In reality, they are no more than fly-by-night snake oil salesmen who would disappear at the crack of dawn. Over the past few years, the shenanigans of Boeing, the mega-conglomerate which made more than half of the world's planes, has come to light.
First, in late 2018, a brand new Boeing 737 Max belonging to Lion Air of Indonesia went plunging down into the Java Straits at full throttle soon after takeoff. Boeing executives were quick to deny that a brand new Boeing could be anything but faulty. They alleged, condescendingly, that the pilot did not know how to fly. 189 people perished.
Only after their black boxes were found did a possibility of a significant design flaw be entertained. Boeing started cutting corners in their zest to stay afloat and maintain profitability after its merger with McDonnell Douglas. To continue the lion's shares in the aeroplane building business over its European rival Airbus, but not able to produce a new design, Boeing kept churning out bigger 737s. It introduced the 737 Max series with the MCAS system. The MCAS was a device working in the background of the array of plane computers to keep this big machine stable in the air. The trouble was that it had the power to control the ship independently, and the worse part was that none of the Boeings pilots was ever made aware or trained on MCAS.
The biggest worrying thing about the whole affair was that Boeing knew about their products' fault but maliciously decided to pay importance to money over safety. They continued denying culpability. This was discovered from the bipartisan Congressional hearings and extensive investigative journalism.
Boeing rested on its past laurels and long tradition of being the pioneer in churning out fighter planes in World War. It exerted its dominance by demonstrating a condescending attitude towards its Asian and African clientele. Even when China, some Asian and European countries grounded their Boeing fleets, the haughty Boeing did not budge. Even the American Federal Aviation Authority maintained no fault in the 737 Max. For the first time in American history, its President, Trump, of course, had the gumption to ground American planes on its soil with immediate effect.
The hearing saw an explosive revelation of a business with many shortcomings. Their internal memos clearly showed their realisation of a faulty MCAS system, but they continued anyway, placing profitability over safety. Its CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, was clearly disgraced in front of a gallery of gobsmacked pilots, the family of the crash victims and the world at large. The company culture of profit and deception over safety was bare for scrutiny.
The documentary narrates in an understandable manner the descent of a giant company that emphasises engineering marvels to spiral down the decadent rabbit hole of greed. Its computer generated possible imagery of the final moments of the ill-fated flights are just devastating.
For failing to recognise safety risks and allowing the company to cut corners to get the planes to market, the CEO, Dennis Muilenberg, was dishonourably sacked, losing Boeing's stock worth $14.6 million but not without his pension and stock benefits of about $62 million.
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| Boeing ex-CEO, Dennis Muilenburg |
Now, they cry foul. They complain about CCP's unethical practice, human rights and environmental degradation as if they were not guilty of these in annals of history.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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