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Downfall: The Case Against Boeing
2022 · Film · documentary · 89 min
Directed by Rory Kennedy
Investigators reveal how Boeing’s alleged priority of profit over safety could have contributed to two catastrophic crashes within months of each other.
9 positive3 neutralfrom 12 commenters
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13 comments on Hacker News
"It certainly doesn't explain anything" is some irrational hyperbolic bullshit. You're talking nonsense. Of course it explains something. Listen to people who actually worked at Boeing. One of the dudes who worked there just replied in this thread. This is not a stupid internet meme. This is reality. I recommend you watch the documentary: "Downfall: The Case Against Boeing".
"In re The Boeing Co. Derivative Litig." - https://casetext.com/case/in-re-the-boeing-co-derivative-litig
"Downfall: The Case Against Boeing" - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11893274/
The Netflix documentary "Downfall: The Case Against Boeing" follows this line of reasoning exactly and in detail.
I spoke to someone who works there about a year ago.
I was trying to gauge how an insider viewed the Max problem related to the auto trim issue which caused two airplanes [1][2] to crash, killing 346 people. This was shortly after watching the documentary Downfall: The Case Against Boeing [3].
The ignorance and non acceptance of fault made me cringe. I won't go into the details, but this wasn't a freak accident this was due to human decisions. They cut corners on how to modify an aircraft to compete with Airbus, and then doubled down to not pass down training to pilots on their hack of a fix, since it would be an increase in costs on their customers (i.e. the plane becomes more expensive to operate due to extra training for pilots).
I am doing my outmost to avoid any new planes from Boeing (higher risk with new airplanes). I've also simply started flying less.
The Boeing fiasco is what 2nd world / 3rd world corruption looks like in the west. profit interests above safety, and regulatory capture of the FAA. Also anti competitive or anti free trade practices by the US Department of Commerce [4].
1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion_Air_Flight_610
2 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Airlines_Flight_302
3 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downfall:_The_Case_Against_Boeing
4 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSeries_dumping_petition_by_Boeing
Here's a Netflix documentary (in the wake of the MCAS crashes) that alleges that after the merger with McDonnell Douglas, the culture of the firm changed. Previously dominated by engineers, it was now dominated by MBAs with a focus on profit and shareholder value.
"With impressive clarity, Downfall: The Case Against Boeing reveals corporate corruption that's enraging in its callousness and frightening in its scope."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downfall:_The_Case_Against_Boeing https://www.netflix.com/hk-en/title/81272421
Almost every flight that doesn't cross the ocean on Air Canada is on a Max. Great to see this as they are not going to ground them as well...
PS: the documentary Downfall: The Case Against Boeing was very eye opening, and really shows what happens when a company goes from a Jobs-like CEO to a Ballmer-like CEO, lesson to keep in mind
The Netflix documentary Downfall covers the Boeing case.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downfall:_The_Case_Against_Boeing
> Why does European airbus thrive, while us aircraft industry declined?
The documentary "Downfall: The Case Against Boeing"[1] goes into this topic, and I believe the wiki page[2] summary captures it nicely:
> "There were many decades when Boeing did extraordinary things by focusing on excellence and safety and ingenuity. Those three virtues were seen as the key to profit. It could work, and beautifully. And then they were taken over by a group that decided Wall Street was the end-all, be-all. [...]"
Of course, I have no idea if this is just cherry-picking information, but it does seem plausible why things "suddenly" changed.
[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11893274/
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downfall:_The_Case_Against_Boeing#Summary
1. "Chef's Table BBQ", S1E1: "Tootsie Tomanetz" - a mouthwatering documentary on an 85yo Tootsie's job as a pitmaster. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12922502/
2. "Tiny House Nation": https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3869500/
3. "Don't F*k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer" - **WARNING: MAY NOT BE APPROPRIATE TO SOME AUDIENCES**: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11318602/
4. "Downfall: The Case Against Boeing" - investigating the Boeing 737 Max incidents killing 346 people: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11893274/
I watched all four on Netflix.
It’s mentioned in a well made Netflix documentary about the downfall of Boeing I think.
“Downfall: The Case Against Boeing” is the documentary title.
There's this documentary on Netflix that also notes the cultural shift, and largely blames it on the 1997 acquisition of McDonnell-Douglas, and the subsequent shift, roughly speaking, from an engineering-dominated culture to an MBA-dominated culture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downfall:_The_Case_Against_Boeing
Saying they 'ignored' it is quite generous, considering the former CEO essentially blamed the pilots (source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-11-16/are-boeing-planes-unsafe-pilots-blamed-for-corporate-errors-in-max-737-crash).
Here's an excerpt from the article...
--- “No, again, we provide all the information that’s needed to safely fly our airplanes,” he answered.
Bartiromo pressed: But was that information available to the pilots? “Yeah, that’s part of the training manual, it’s an existing procedure,” Muilenburg said.
“Oh, I see,” she said. But in fact, MCAS wasn’t in the manual, unless you counted the glossary, which defined the term but didn’t explain what the software did. ---
A safety critical feature that can down a plane if not disabled in time... tucked away in a glossary.
The documentary 'Downfall: The Case Against Boeing' goes into great detail about the whole ordeal.
The https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/downfall_the_case_against_boeing documentary is a good take on this