In 2019, Airbus surpassed for the first time Boeing as the largest aerospace company in the world, as two crashes of Boeing’s 737-Max airplane forced a grounding of the fleet and a halt in sales, eventually costing it $20 billion in associated fines and delays. While Boeing maintains a relatively strong overall safety record as measured by crashes per million departures, the production problems with the 787 Dreamliner in the mid 2010s and the recent 737 debacle has cast some doubt as to the management and engineering practices at the century-old American icon of industry. Tonight, we delve into the roots of what made the company as successful as it was, as well as some of the key events that arguably led to its current troubles that date back well into the 1990s and beyond.
— References —
- Dr. Strangelove, Kubrick (1964)
- Passenger 57, Hooks (1992)
- Japan Arrests 17th Official In the Lockheed Bribe Scandal, New York Times (1976) – https://www.nytimes.com/1976/08/21/archives/japan-arrests-17th-official-in-the-lockheed-bribe-scandal.html
- Lights out, Seattle, Boswell and McConaghy (1996) – https://special.seattletimes.com/o/special/centennial/november/lights_out.html
- The Aviator, Scorsese (2004)
- Hub-and-Spoke vs Point-to-Point Transport Networks, Cornell (2011) – https://blogs.cornell.edu/info2040/2011/09/14/hub-and-spoke-vs-point-to-point-transport-networks/
- Boeing To Build 737 Completions Plant in China, Polek (2015) – https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aerospace/2015-09-23/boeing-build-737-completions-plant-china
- The Big Fraud – Savings and Loan Crisis, Myth of the 20th Century (2018) – https://myth20c.wordpress.com/2018/11/14/the-big-fraud-savings-and-loan-crisis/
- Skunkworks – Lockheed’s Legacy, Myth of the 20th Century (2019) – https://myth20c.wordpress.com/2019/03/20/skunkworks-lockheeds-legacy/
- F-35 Joint Strike Fighter – a Lockheed Insider’s Story, Myth of the 20th Century (2019) – https://myth20c.wordpress.com/2019/07/18/f-35-joint-strike-fighter-a-lockheed-insiders-story/
- Sullenberger: MCAS Exposed a Failed System, Leopold (2019) – https://www.eetimes.com/sullenberger-mcas-exposed-a-failed-system/
- General Dynamics – The Defender, Myth of the 20th Century (2021) – https://myth20c.wordpress.com/2021/04/09/general-dynamics-the-defender/
- Boeing’s Fatal Flaw, Frontline (2021) – https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/boeings-fatal-flaw/
- Downfall: The Case Against Boeing, Netflix (2022)
- Boeing Overview – https://www.boeing.com/resources/boeingdotcom/company/general_info/pdf/boeing_overview-16×9.pdf
- Boeing General Info – https://www.boeing.com/company/general-info/index.page
If pessimism is despair, optimism is cowardice and stupidity. -Francis Parker Yockey