Absturz: Der Fall gegen Boeing

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.

This documentary should be shown to every new Airbus employee and executive, to learn how you should NOT do it.

Now on a more serious note: An interesting and sometimes even thrilling documentary, which was well-paced, had great interviews and outstanding music. It could've been a bit shorter, but if you like documentaries, it's definitely worth a watch.

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.

"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.

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.