The Moment That Boeing's Culture Started To Rot
Odd Lots
Bloomberg
4.5 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 19 January 2024
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On Jan. 5, the plug door of an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 blew out mid-flight, forcing the plane into an emergency landings with a large hole in fuselage. Miraculously, nobody was hurt or killed, but it could have been a disaster. And it was the latest in the persistent string of mechanical and engineering setbacks that have plagued Boeing over the last six years. Of course, the company went into crisis mode in late 2018 and early 2019 when two different 737 Max planes crashed, killing 346 people combined. So what's wrong with Boeing? It's a crucial question, since the company is arguably America's pre-eminent manufacturer and one of the only two dominant global players in commercial jets. On this episode we speak with Bloomberg investigative reporter Peter Robison, the author of Flying Blind: The 737 MAX Tragedy and the Fall of Boeing. We discuss the company's problems, its history and culture, and how it lost its focus on safety and engineering in favor of a focus on pleasing shareholders.
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| 0:14.7 | Hi there it's Jill Wiesenthal and Tracy Allaway the co-hosts of the |
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| 1:22.5 | Tracy, this might seem like the most obvious statement in the world, but I'm really worried about Boeing. |
| 1:28.0 | And I don't mean like flying on one for say. Oh really? Well, I mean that's kind of what I would be worried about but I feel like I need to do a disclaimer |
| 1:37.6 | before we do this episode which is that I have a massive soft spot for Boeing. I think a lot of Americans actually maybe still do. My dad |
| 1:46.9 | flew B52s and then he flew 737s for Southwest for a long time. I've been in a 737 simulator with him. I covered |
| 1:56.7 | airlines, not really aerospace, but airlines for a while and so I feel like my life has to some |
| 2:02.1 | extent been a little bit |
| 2:03.4 | entwined with Boeing. |
| 2:04.8 | A large part of my inheritance, if I get it, |
| 2:08.3 | is Southwest stock, which I think still kind of |
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