The Unraveling of Boeing | Jedi Mind Tricks | 3

Business Wars

Wondery

History, Business, David Brown, Management

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 22 January 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Boeing scrambles to improve its bestseller, the 737, as its competitor Airbus brings an upgraded rival plane to market. To create the 737 MAX, Boeing has to figure out a way to fit modern jet engines onto the 737’s aging airframe. When the MAX encounters problems, Boeing then creates a computer system to fix them. But their lack of transparency with both regulators and pilots will backfire badly.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wonderly Plus subscribers can binge all four episodes of business wars the unraveling of Boeing early and ad-free right now.
0:08.0	Join Wonderly Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:16.3	2012, Seattle, Washington.
0:26.6	In a Boeing research facility, two aerodynamicists are inside the company's transonic wind tunnel. Boeing uses this high-tech tunnel to test how its plane designs might perform under different conditions,
0:32.6	and today they're working on Boeing's highest priority project, the 737 Max.
0:38.6	The 737 is Boeing's bestseller.
0:41.0	It's the workhorse of the world's airlines, but it's under pressure.
0:45.7	Airbus is equivalent.
0:46.9	The A320 just got an upgrade.
0:49.3	Its new addition, the A320 Neo features modern fuel-efficient engines, and airlines are loving it.
0:55.8	So Boeing's following Airbus's lead and creating the 737 Max, a 737 with modern jet engines.
1:03.7	The aerodynamicists in the tunnel carefully set up a scale replica of the 737 max design.
1:09.9	The model's about the size of an eagle and looks just like a regular 737.
1:14.6	Model ready, the aerodynamicists exit the tunnel and head to the control panel.
1:20.6	On one monitor they can see the model 737 max waiting to be tested. Next to it, an LED display stands by to report on wind conditions in the tunnel.
1:30.3	They've been testing the model for weeks, and today they want to see how it handles a steep banking turn.
1:36.3	It's an extreme maneuver. One no commercial pilot is likely to ever do,
1:41.3	but the max must be able to handle it in order to win permission
1:45.0	to fly from the Federal Aviation Administration.
1:48.0	The wind generator powers up.
1:50.0	The aerodynamicists watch the orange numbers on the monitor tick upwards as wind speed rises.
1:56.0	They take notes and adjust dials.
	...

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