Boeing is Falling Apart

A series of incidents have taken place that can only be described as alarming.

From a wheel falling off a plane during take-off and dish soap being used in a production facility to the death of a whistle-blower.

Boeing's 2024 is not going well.

Recent incidents

First, on March 4th, passengers aboard a United Airlines flight from Texas to Florida on a Boeing 737-900 witnessed ‘bright orange flames shooting out of the plane's engine’

Passenger Elliot Trexler described hearing a loud noise while in the air -”There was a loud explosion, there was no question in any of our minds that something bad had happened. That combined with the plane nose-diving and seeing flames”.

Then, on March 8th, a Boeing 737 Max operated by United Airlines carrying 160 passengers and six crew members slid off the runway while landing due to a malfunction in the landing gear.

In the very same week, a tire fell off a Boeing 777 shortly after take off from San Francisco Airport. It detached while the plane was in mid-air and fell to the ground below smashing into cars in a parking lot nearby.

Even more recently, at least 50 people were injured due to a sudden plunge on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. This was during a flight between Australia and New Zealand. A passenger on that flight described how a sudden drop caused people to be thrown up out of their seats smashing into the roof of the plane and this was with such force that it broke panels and injured 50 passengers.

Another Boeing 777-300 operated by United Airlines during a flight from Sydney to San Francisco had to turn around mid-flight due to hydraulic liquid pouring out of the landing gear.

Before we all panic, we need to put things into perspective. Globally, there's over 100,000 flights per day so statistically air travel is pretty safe but it's clear that these incidents seem to be increasing in frequency.

In all fairness, investigations into these incidents are all ongoing and we may find that some of the fault lies with the operators as opposed to being a Boeing issue.

And while there may be some truth to that, there's one person who definitely didn't believe that.

John Barnett

That was John Barnett in an interview with TMZ about a month ago and he was talking about the door plug situation with Alaska Airlines.

John Barnett was a 62-year-old, former Boeing Employee turned whistle blower. He worked as the quality manager for over 30 years and after his retirement in 2017, he's been publicly sounding the alarm and sharing his concerns about Boeing's practices.

I say John was a 62-year-old man because unfortunately just as he was about to testify against Boeing, the next day, John was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

His lawyers only found out because he was a no-show for the lawsuit and wasn't answering his phone.

As of the writing of this letter, police are still investigating his death. Barnett has appeared on Netflix, TMZ and has worked with other journalists where he continuously claimed that Boeing's practices were not up to standard.

For example in 2019, Barnett spoke with the BBC and revealed that workers were constantly under pressure and have been “deliberately fitting substandard parts to aircraft on the production line”.

He also claimed that there were serious problems with oxygen systems, the assembly process failed tests and overall mismanagement. He'd mentioned that he'd raised concerns with his managers but no actions were taken.

Barnett went on a long legal battle against Boeing, he alleged that Boeing destroyed his reputation and hampered his career due to the concerns he raised.

Boeing of course has denied all allegations.

In 2019, Barnett claimed, “I haven't seen a plane out of Charleston yet that I'd put my name on saying it's safe and airworthy”.

These statements are in line with a 2014 report by Al Jazeera which have been resurfacing lately. Secretly filmed footage showed Boeing engineers saying that they would not fly on the very planes that they were manufacturing.

All of this also comes at a time when a probe by the Federal Aviation Administration or FAA revealed multiple instances in which Boeing and one of its vendors “allegedly failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements”.

The audit reported by the New York Times also highlighted issues with a critical supplier - Spirit AOS systems. Out of 89 products audited, 56 passed while 33 did not meet the standards.

Some insane safety violations were also observed during the FAA audit- dishwashing soap was used as lubricant for a 737 Max door and Boeing engineers were interviewed on how well they understood the Quality Control process and the average score was 58%.

However Boeing is trying their best to save face - in a statement released by them, they said. “based on the FAA audit our quality stand downs and recent expert panel report, we continue to implement immediate changes and develop a comprehensive action plan to strengthen safety and quality and build the confidence of our customers and their passengers. We are squarely focused on taking significant demonstrated action with transparency at every turn”.

Meanwhile, the head of the National Transportation Safety Board or NTSB claims that the surveillance footage of the work being done on the door plug of the fateful Alaska Airlines aircraft has been overwritten by Boeing.

The Justice Department

Now this would all be a comical clown show and it could be funny to watch if it didn't risk the lives of innocent people so the US government has finally woken up from their slumber and said enough is enough.

The US Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into the door plug incident with Alaska Airlines from January.

Boeing has already acknowledged in a letter to Congress saying that they cannot find the records for the work done on the door panel of the Alaska Airlines plane.

That in itself should send alarm bells ringing. The Wall Street Journal reported that the investigation would assist the Department's review of Boeing and this is to see whether Boeing complied with a previous settlement that resolved a federal investigation into the safety of its 737 Max aircraft following the two deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019.

All of these incidents have seen a 25% drop in Boeing's stock price since the start of 2024, so ironically, in the pursuit of maximizing shareholder value, Boeing has done the exact opposite. Cutting corners and saving money is eroding the company's reputation.

While it may seem that Boeing could head towards a severe crisis, it's not likely for one main reason.

It's no secret that Boeing has a unique relationship with the US government and US President Federal records show that Boeing has spent millions of dollars on lobbying.

Accusations have also come to light of politicians selling Boeing stock before negative reports came out suggesting insider trading within the US government.

Given such close relationships with some key players in government and other influential industries, it's very unlikely that Boeing will simply cease to exist.

Sorry to say but they're in bed with the US government.

Conclusion

Given the death of John Barnett, it's unclear what's going to happen in that legal case now. However, with the Department of Justice opening a criminal investigation and with the continuous negative headlines causing both public awareness and an outcry, it's clear that Boeing is going to have their hands full with ongoing legal battles.

As for the company itself, Boeing is going to need to get that public confidence back and fast.

Even though the US government is a key part of Boeing's revenue over the last 4 years, it's been decreasing year on year and this indicates that Boeing can't solely rely on government contracts to grow. Ultimately, the public has to feel safe in their planes or Airbus will be eating their lunch.

It's not just the public and everyday passengers that have to trust Boeing again but also airline operators, regulators and media alike and for humans, trust is a very hard thing to restore once broken.