Boeing: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Summary
TLDRThe script is a scathing commentary on Boeing's decline from being a reputable aircraft manufacturer to prioritizing profits over safety. It dissects the company's cultural shift after its merger with McDonnell Douglas, leading to cost-cutting measures, outsourcing, and a stock-price-driven approach that compromised quality control and transparency. The disastrous consequences of these decisions are highlighted through the 737 Max crashes, which exposed Boeing's negligence in informing pilots about a flawed safety system. The script calls for accountability, questioning the effectiveness of regulatory oversight while urging Boeing to rectify its tarnished reputation through genuine leadership and a renewed commitment to safety.
Takeaways
- 😬 Boeing's reputation for quality and safety has deteriorated due to prioritizing profits and stock prices over engineering excellence.
- 💸 Cost-cutting measures like outsourcing production and reducing R&D budgets compromised the safety of planes like the 787 Dreamliner and 737 MAX.
- 💥 The 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 were caused by a flawed MCAS system that Boeing failed to properly inform pilots about.
- 🐪 Boeing's acquisition of McDonnell Douglas in the 1990s brought a more profit-driven and cutthroat culture that clashed with Boeing's engineer-centered approach.
- 😡 Internal messages revealed Boeing employees mocking regulators, the company, and safety issues with the 737 MAX.
- 🙈 The FAA heavily relied on Boeing's self-certification of its planes, leading to lax oversight and missed safety issues.
- 💰 Boeing prioritized stock buybacks and dividends over safety investments, diverting 92% of operating cash flow to investors from 2014 to 2018.
- 👨✈️ Production line workers raised concerns about rushed production and safety compromises but were often ignored by management.
- 🔄 Despite recent crashes and issues, Boeing's leadership has remained largely unchanged, casting doubt on their ability to enact meaningful cultural reforms.
- 💭 Public trust in Boeing has eroded, with passengers actively avoiding flying on certain Boeing models due to safety concerns.
Q & A
What was the main issue with the Boeing 737 MAX planes that led to two fatal crashes?
-The main issue was with the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), which could push the plane's nose down on its own based on data from a single sensor. This system was not properly explained to pilots, and it could be activated erroneously, leading to the crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.
What cultural shift occurred at Boeing after its merger with McDonnell Douglas?
-After the merger, the McDonnell Douglas culture, which was more cutthroat and profit-driven, became dominant at Boeing. The company started prioritizing stock buybacks and dividends for investors over investing in research and development or safety.
What issues were found during the production of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner?
-Boeing outsourced much of the Dreamliner's production to suppliers to cut costs, leading to issues with misaligned parts, incorrectly secured fasteners, and gaps between units. The plane's unveiling in 2007 was also revealed to be a sham, with the displayed model being just an empty shell.
How did Boeing's relationship with the FAA contribute to the 737 MAX issues?
-Boeing was allowed to use its own employees as FAA-designated inspectors to certify the planes' airworthiness, creating a conflict of interest. The FAA also heavily relied on Boeing's analysis of the MAX's safety, lacking the ability to effectively analyze much of the company's data.
What were some of the damning internal messages revealed about Boeing's awareness of the MCAS issues?
-Internal messages showed that Boeing knew about the dangers of MCAS throughout the MAX's development. One test pilot failed to recover from an MCAS activation in a simulator, calling it 'catastrophic.' Another employee described the plane as 'designed by clowns, who in turn are supervised by monkeys.'
What recent issue with the 737 MAX has raised further safety concerns?
-In August 2022, the FAA warned that using the engine anti-icing system on the MAX for more than 5 minutes could cause the engine housing to shatter, potentially leading to decompression and loss of control. Pilots are now using Post-it notes and timers as reminders to turn off the system.
What changes have been made to address Boeing's safety issues?
-Congress passed legislation rolling back some of Boeing's ability to oversee its own planes, and the FAA has demanded Boeing come up with a plan to address safety concerns within 90 days. However, concerns remain about the company's commitment to change under its current leadership.
How did Boeing's focus on stock prices and cost-cutting impact safety?
-Boeing diverted 92% of its operating cash flow from 2014 to 2018 towards stock buybacks and dividends, far exceeding its spending on R&D for new planes. This focus on cost-cutting and pleasing investors led to rushed production and compromised safety measures.
What was the issue with the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) on the 737 MAX?
-MCAS could push the plane's nose down based on data from a single sensor, which could be faulty or activated erroneously. Pilots were not properly informed about MCAS or trained to handle such situations, contributing to the crashes.
How did Boeing's reputation for safety and quality change over time?
-Boeing was once renowned for its commitment to safety, quality, and craftsmanship, with a culture of openness and attention to detail. However, after the McDonnell Douglas merger and increased focus on profits, the company's reputation suffered as safety concerns mounted.
Outlines
✈️ Passengers Recount Terrifying Flight Incident
The main story is about a recent incident on an Alaskan Airlines flight where a door plug became dislodged, causing a gush of air and panic among passengers. The plane, which was relatively new, landed safely but experts say it was mostly luck as a passenger could have been sucked out at takeoff or catastrophic injuries could have occurred at cruising altitude. Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun took responsibility but gave an unclear explanation about a 'quality escape' that allowed an unsafe plane to fly.
🔄 Boeing's Cultural Shift After McDonnell Douglas Merger
The paragraph discusses how Boeing's culture shifted after merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. The McDonnell Douglas management team's profit-driven and cutthroat culture became dominant, with a focus on increasing stock prices rather than quality and safety. Boeing relocated its headquarters away from the commercial plane operations, prioritized stock buybacks over R&D, and introduced slogans like 'less family, more team,' signaling a shift away from its engineer-centered open culture.
💸 Cost-Cutting and Outsourcing for the 787 Dreamliner
The paragraph explores Boeing's cost-cutting measures and outsourcing strategy for the 787 Dreamliner project. To reduce costs, Boeing slashed R&D budgets, outsourced production to numerous suppliers, and aimed to develop the plane for less than half the cost of previous models. This led to quality issues, communication challenges, and a plywood mock-up being passed off as the real Dreamliner at the unveiling ceremony. The plane was delivered years late and billions over budget.
⚠️ The Flawed 737 MAX and the MCAS System
The paragraph details the development of Boeing's 737 MAX jet and the flawed MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System) that contributed to two deadly crashes. To compete with Airbus, Boeing rushed the MAX's design and production, cutting corners and failing to adequately inform pilots about MCAS, which could force the plane's nose down based on a single faulty sensor reading. Pilots were given minimal training on iPads, and Boeing initially dismissed concerns about MCAS after the first crash.
🕵️ Lack of Regulatory Oversight and Boeing's Self-Regulation
The paragraph discusses the lack of effective oversight from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Boeing's self-regulation practices. The FAA heavily relied on Boeing employees to certify the MAX's safety, and for decades, Boeing used its own 'FAA-designated inspectors' to approve planes, leading to conflicts of interest. Boeing successfully lobbied to reduce government oversight of airplane designs, allowing it to regulate itself even more, while some Boeing inspectors faced pressure to limit safety analysis.
🚨 Boeing's Continued Safety Issues and Need for Change
The paragraph highlights Boeing's ongoing safety issues and the need for fundamental change within the company. Despite the MAX crashes and investigations revealing concerning practices, Boeing continues to face new issues, such as a recent FAA directive about a potential engine housing shattering hazard on the MAX. Boeing's new CEO, Dave Calhoun, claims to prioritize accountability and transparency, but his past leadership role during problematic decisions raises doubts. Whistleblowers argue that new leadership is needed for meaningful change.
🕳️ A Satirical Look at Boeing's Corporate Culture
This paragraph offers a satirical and exaggerated portrayal of Boeing's corporate culture and priorities. Through a series of humorous statements, it mocks Boeing's focus on stock prices over safety, its cost-cutting measures, lack of accountability, and the disconnect between its leadership and the realities of plane manufacturing. The satire aims to criticize Boeing's perceived misplaced values and questionable practices that have compromised its reputation.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Boeing
💡737 Max
💡MCAS
💡Stock buybacks
💡Corporate culture
💡Self-regulation
💡Whistleblowers
💡Accountability
💡Reputation
💡Transparency
Highlights
Passengers are sharing their terrifying experience on board an Alaskan Airlines plane that lost a door plug during flights.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun had an odd response when asked about the safety issue: 'How did an unsafe airplane fly in the first place? Because a quality Escape occurred.'
Boeing used to be synonymous with quality and craftsmanship, but its reputation has been tarnished by a series of alarming incidents and prioritizing stock prices over safety.
The merger with McDonald Douglas in 1997 marked a shift towards a more cutthroat and profit-driven culture at Boeing.
Boeing rushed the production of the 787 Dreamliner, outsourcing work to save costs, leading to significant problems and delays.
The 737 Max was developed hastily to compete with Airbus, without proper safety considerations, leading to two fatal crashes.
Boeing concealed key information about the MCAS system from pilots and regulators, contributing to the crashes.
Boeing employees mocked the FAA, the company, and the plane's problems in internal messages, describing it as 'designed by clowns.'
The FAA relied heavily on Boeing employees to vouch for the Max's safety, lacking the ability to effectively analyze Boeing's data.
Boeing successfully lobbied to reduce government oversight of airplane designs, allowing it to regulate itself even more.
Boeing whistleblowers say the company won't change until it has new leadership at the top.
On booking sites, users can now exclude specific Boeing models from their flight searches, indicating a loss of public trust.
The narrator suggests Boeing should advertise the kind of company it has become, prioritizing stock prices over safety and quality.
The narrator satirically rewrites Boeing's marketing slogans to reflect its current practices and priorities.
The transcript highlights the need for fundamental changes at Boeing, including new leadership and a renewed focus on safety and quality over profits.
Transcripts
our main story tonight concerns
airplanes the place you go to say I'll
get some reading done before watching
Nine episodes of The Office you've
already seen and landing in Tucson
planes make many of us nervous even
though commercial air travel is the
safest form of mass transportation but
accidents do happen and there was one
recently that got a lot of attention
passengers are sharing their terrifying
experience on board an Alaskan Airlines
plane that lost a door plug during
flights what was supposed to be a short
trip from Portland to Ontario California
for Garrett Cunningham turned out to be
one of the most frightening experiences
of his life a gush of of air I look to
my left and part of the plane is gone my
brain couldn't compute what I was
looking at yeah of course it couldn't
our minds filter out things that
shouldn't make sense mine for instance
refuses to acknowledge that tomatoes are
fruits or that the shoe Bill isn't
extinct does that really look like
something that should exist at the same
time as the iPad I think not now
thankfully that flight landed safely
with only a few injuries but experts say
that that was mostly luck for one thing
if someone had been sitting in the
window seat with their seat belt off
they could have been sucked out of the
plane and second this happened just
after takeoff but if they'd been at
cruising altitude injuries might have
been catastrophic and that plane was
almost new it had been delivered by the
manufacturer Boeing around 2 months
earlier and that's too soon for a
sneaker to fall apart let alone a
multi-million dollar aircraft now Boeing
CEO Dave Calhoun was quick to take
responsibility saying Boeing is
accountable but when pressed on exactly
what had taken place had an odd response
how did an unsafe airplane fly in the
first
place because a quality Escape
occurred can you qu Escape occur what is
a quality
Escape I think that's the description of
what people are finding in their
inspections um uh anything that could
potentially contribute to an accident
what quality didn't escape a part of the
plane did that's a terrible answer when
you asked how an unsafe plane flew in
the first place we need more information
than essentially the plane was unsafe
yeah everybody knows that there's a
hole in the side of it and the
exact nature of the Escape is pretty
alarming given that according to the
preliminary investigation four bolts
that were supposed to keep the door plug
in place were missing and when Alaska
checked their other max9 planes they
found loose bolts on many of them the
next day the FAA announced that every
Boeing 7379 Max with a plug door would
be grounded until they were inspected
which is a bit of a relief and honestly
kind of a fun image i' like to imagine
Stern FAA inspectors going up to each
plane and saying you are grounded Missy
no inflight TV for a month and yes
planes are girls cuz think about it they
always have snacks and constantly say
leaving right now and then don't move
for another 15
minutes case closed it's beginning to
feel like this might be a much broader
issue within Boeing because it comes on
the heels of a years long string of
alarming incidents from fires on board
to a pair of massive crashes that were
blamed on flawed Boeing planes and just
this week the FAA issued a stunning
order to the company the Federal
Aviation Administration gave Boeing 90
days now to come up with a plan to
address safety issues this comes after a
report released on Monday found
employees did not understand their role
in safety and they feared retaliation
for raising safety related concerns uh
those are big problems when you've got a
factory that is making Jets yeah of
course although to be fair workers being
unable to raise safety concerns is a big
problem in a factory that makes anything
no one wants grocery stores selling
Captain Crunch oops all rat poison and
all of this is striking for a company
that genuinely used to be seen as one of
the greatest in America and that's still
one of the country's largest exporters
so if a company this big and this
important seems to be this troubled
tonight let's talk about Boeing and
let's start with the fact the Boeing
used to be synonymous with quality and
craftsmanship it was founded by William
Boeing in 1916 and over the years it
built nearly 100,000 planes for the
Allied Forces the first stage of the
Satin five rocket and Air Force One but
they're best known for revolutionizing
commercial aviation in 1967 Boeing
introduced the 737 have made over 10,000
of them since and the company's success
rests heavily on its well-earned
reputation for excellence like in this
video from an annual shareholder meeting
the first step in making a difference is
believing you can we make the impossible
happen on a regular basis so it can be
done you you just have to think of a new
way to do it let's just do it right
whatever it is quality safety
environment do it right and make it
something that you can be proud of I
wanted to develop products that had a
global reach and a global
impact and I'm doing it
[Music]
now I mean that sounds pretty good we do
the impossible great love the impossible
let's just do it right yes let's Wrong
Feels Like a bad way to do it I want to
develop a globally impactful product and
I did good for you you're a little too
close to the camera but in general I am
on board in fact Boe had such a great
reputation for safety among Pilots there
was even a common saying if it ain't Boe
I ain't going which the company put on
T-shirts lanyards and mugs that you can
still buy on their website all perfect
gifts for someone who loves branded
merch and does not love following the
news and that Stellar reputation has
been credited to the company's engineer
centered open culture William Boeing
himself once said after noticing some
shoddy workmanship on his production
line that he would close up shop rather
than send out work of this kind and one
project leader in the 80s and early 90s
is remembered for saying no secrets and
the only thing that will make me rip off
your head and down your neck is
withholding information and I'm sorry
but that should be the mug you want a
shift merch that's how you do it but
it's pretty clear that we're a long way
from that culture today and most
observers will trace the shift back to
this pivotal event a major announcement
today in the world of Aviation Boeing
and McDonald Douglas today announced
they would joined together to form the
world's largest aircraft manufacturer
this is I believe a an historic
moment in aviation and
Aerospace yeah the sky boys got business
married Boeing merged with McDonald
Douglas who were primarily known for
military planes and had a lousy
reputation for commercial airliners most
notably the dc10 which had multiple
accidents resulting in over 1100
passenger fatalities and look was
merging with the McDonald Douglas
Aerospace Manufacturing Corporation SL
murder Emporium that Boeing CEO's worst
decision probably not because he also
and this is true married his first
cousin so the last decision I'd ask this
guy to make is who it's a good idea to
couple up
with and while Boeing was the acquirer
in the partnership it soon became clear
that the McDonald Douglas culture which
was much more Cutthroat and profit
driven was going to become dominant
early on the McDonald Douglas management
team even gave their Boeing counterparts
a plaque featuring an Economist magazine
cover about the challenges of corporate
merges which sounds benign until you see
that the actual cover was this picture
of two camels and McDonald
Douglas exec added the line who's on top
and setting aside the weirdness of
gifting your co-workers camel porn it
begs the the question what was going on
at the economist back
then spare a thought for the employee
who dreamt of doing business journalism
only to find themselves digging through
photos of horned up camel banging
in the
dirt a year after the merger was
finalized boing announced a new stock
buyback program taking company money
that could have gone to making planes
and using it to inflate stock prices
instead and even mechanics at the
company noticed the culture shift there
is a m major campaign launched called
Share value and the idea was that they
wanted everybody to be aware of the
stock price and they wanted everybody
working together to increase the stock
value even the technical meetings
everything revolved around boing stock
prices yeah that's not reassuring
because that's not where you want their
priorities focused no wants to get on a
plane and he good afternoon this is your
captain speaking we had a few technical
problems but our maintenance crew is has
assured us that the stock price is still
holding strong so let's get this big
metal tube full of you and your loved
ones up into the sky shall we and the
culture change was solidified by the
decision to relocate the corporate
headquarters from Seattle where their
commercial planes were actually designed
and built 2,000 miles away to Chicago
because as their CEO put it when the
headquarters is located in proximity to
a principal business the Corporate
Center is inevitably drawn into
day-to-day business operations and yeah
it should be you're essentially saying
hey we're going to be making big
business decisions over here so we don't
need to be bothered with you nerds and
you're keeping planes in the air
now CEO Phil conit soon left
the company amid a Contracting Scandal
and was replaced by Harry Stoner the
former CEO of McDonald Douglas he was an
aggressive Cost Cutter who pushed
boing's management to play tougher with
its Workforce and to introduce the
slogan less family more team which
frankly would have been great advice for
Phil Condit when he was choosing a
romantic partner less Family Phil you
want to be a team but like not one
that's related by
blood but the problems with the whole
stock price first approach soon became
apparent during the production of the
787 Dreamliner it was a new lighter
plane the Boeing announced in 2004 but
Stone Cipher drastically cut the R&D
budget you know the money for creating
the plane even as the company authorized
large stock BuyBacks and dividends for
investors under his plans the Dreamliner
would be de developed for less than half
of what their previous new plane had
cost Bo also sought savings by
Outsourcing production to about 50
suppliers each of whom was responsible
for managing its own subcontractor so
basically the plan was for boing to
create the plane the same way someone
creates a gingerbread house from a kit
essentially assembling a bunch of pieces
other people made leading to a finished
product that structurally speaking was
always going to be a mess and
years later Boeing itself produced a
promotional video that admitted that
plan was a
Fasco executing a project of such
complexity proved to be more than some
suppliers could
handle wrinkles were found in the
composite skins from one supplier
Fasteners were incorrectly secured on
sections of the tail there were gaps
between units that were supposed to fit
tightly together we had our partners and
then they had Partners who had partners
and the different cultures and the
communication uh was very challenging
and added a lot of complexity you know
it's never a great sign when you're
talking about the manufacturing process
for a plane the same way a doomed open
thropple talks about their private life
we had our partners and then they had
Partners who had partners and
communication was very challenging and
added a lot of complexity and long story
short now we all have
chlamidia and on top of that Stone
Cipher was forced to resign in the wake
of an affair with a Boeing VP and was
replaced by the company's third CEO in
as many years Jim McNerney who if
anything accelerated the cost cutting
but despite all the setbacks from
Outsourcing Boeing managed to roll out
the dream liner on time in an elaborate
ceremony in 2007 except there was one
small catch we were all inside the
factory with artificial lighting big
stage Tom brocca huge
screens
then they open the doors of this giant
assembly Bay and en rolls this beautiful
beautiful aircraft we learned that the
whole thing was a
sham beautiful isn't it absolutely
beautiful I realized the doors were made
of plywood this plan that we were
admiring was completely a shell inside
what I realized walking around it is
that you could you know look up in the
wheel well and you could see daylight
wow what a historic moment so exciting
to see the unveiling of the first
airplane made entirely out of plywood
and lies the plane was supposed to take
its first test flight within two months
of that launch but unsurprisingly that
didn't happen in fact the Dreamliner
didn't carry commercial passengers for
years finally delivering planes three
years late and $25 billion over budget
and almost immediately there were
problems multiple planes had fires on
board including two in Boston and Japan
within 9 days of each other which
investigations link to a defective
battery made by a subcontractor that
Boeing had never audited so the FAA
grounded the Dreamliner the first time
it had grounded an airplane model since
the mcdonal Douglas dc10 in 1979 again
making it pretty clear that the wrong
attitude had prevailed after the merger
basically the wrong camel came out on
top and investigations revealed that
even people people building the
Dreamliner were worried about its safety
in 2014 aler released hidden camera
footage of a worker at a Dreamliner
plant asking fellow employees a pretty
pointed question did you fly one um no
you won't fly on
one did you fly on one of these
planes did you fly on one of
these probably not I would one of these
ples you wouldn't why wouldn't you huh
why wouldn't you because I see the
quality vide going down around here did
you fly one of these yeah it's sketchy
sketchy I probably would but I mean I a
death
too it's
true out of 15 workers he asked 10 said
they wouldn't fly on that plane and
honestly that last guy is almost worse
because if I had to pick between a plane
that two-thirds of workers refuse to get
on and one that would only be ridden by
death wish Dave I'd pick the former
every time but while the Dreamliner had
its problems at least it never had a
fatal accident but that cannot be said
for Boeing's next plane the 737 Max in
2011 as Boeing was rolling out the
Dreamliner its main competitor Airbus
was unveiling the A320 Neo a fuel
efficient update of their already
popular A320 planes and it was a wild
success Boeing caught completely off
guard quickly announced a new fuel
efficient plane it hadn't even
engineered yet the 737 Max they wanted
to get it out of the door as quickly and
as cheaply as possible McNerney even had
a catchphrase More For Less which became
the company's driving theme as it
embarked on the Max and all the while