{"id":486186,"date":"2026-06-19T23:37:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T23:37:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/486186\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T23:37:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T23:37:18","slug":"boeing-safety-commitment-questioned-in-rory-kennedy-doc-freefall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/486186\/","title":{"rendered":"Boeing Safety Commitment Questioned In Rory Kennedy Doc ‘Freefall’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tOscar-nominated filmmaker Rory Kennedy<\/a> follows a self-imposed rule when she travels by air. \u201cI don\u2019t fly on the 737 Maxes,\u201d she says of Boeing aircraft. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t fly on the Dreamliners.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnyone who has seen her documentary Downfall: The Case Against Boeing<\/a> will understand why. That 2022 Netflix<\/a> film investigated the company\u2019s flawed design of the 737 Max and its MCAS flight control software which resulted in two catastrophic crashes that killed almost 350 passengers and crew. Kennedy returns to the theme of Boeing and its imperiled reputation in her latest documentary, Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing<\/a>, which just held its world premiere at the DC\/DOX<\/a> festival in the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAt the end of that film [Downfall], we were left with reassurances from Boeing saying that they learned their lesson, they changed their ways,\u201d the director said at a Q&A following the Freefall premiere. \u201cAnd for the initial phases, as they were kind of rebuilding the 737 Max and making some corrections on that plane, it seemed like maybe they were headed in the right direction and I was hopeful\u2026 [But] I started seeing a lot of the behaviors that led to the 737 Max crash continue and it was very concerning to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"The<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe opening where a door plug panel on a Boeing 737 Max 9 blew out on an Alaska Airlines flight.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Elizabeth Le<\/p>\n

\n\tCase in point: a January 2024 incident aboard an Alaska Airlines flight that saw a door plug panel blow off in mid-air, triggering depressurization (fortunately, the aircraft had not reached cruising altitude and although a significant percentage of oxygen masks did not function properly, the plane landed safely and everyone survived). An investigation by the National Traffic Safety Board (NTSB) concluded factory workers who had reinstalled the door plug failed to secure it with four key bolts.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis accident never should have happened,\u201d NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said in 2025. \u201cThe safety deficiencies that led to this accident should have been evident to Boeing.\u201d For its part, the company issued a mea culpa, writing in a statement, \u201cWe at Boeing regret this accident and continue to work on strengthening safety and quality across our operations. We will review the final report and recommendations as we continue to implement improvements.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"John<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJohn Barnett in \u2018Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing.\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Vicky Stokes<\/p>\n

\n\tThose promises notwithstanding, Freefall doesn\u2019t instill confidence in Boeing operations. Quite the opposite. The film, which is expected to debut on Netflix in August, is based partly on the testimony of whistleblowers who reported numerous instances in which managers allegedly told safety monitors to overlook problems lest production be slowed. Among those who feature prominently in the documentary is John Barnett, a 32-year employee of Boeing who worked in quality control. He died under mysterious circumstances in 2024 while pursuing a lawsuit against Boeing that alleged his supervisors had retaliated against him for reporting safety problems.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI had the honor and pleasure of meeting John when we made Downfall and I became friends with John and was following his case with his lawyers,\u201d Kennedy said. \u201cWhen he died, I was just crestfallen and so upset\u2026 I didn\u2019t know what happened, but I felt that no matter what happened, that I was going to feel that Boeing was responsible for his death. And I knew how much they had put him through and how tortured he was in the aftermath of him speaking out and telling us and everybody what his concerns were. And that was the reason that I wanted to make this film.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Merle<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tMerle Meyers in \u2018Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing.\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Long View Productions<\/p>\n

\n\tOther whistleblowers in the film include Sam Mohawk, who worked in Boeing\u2019s Renton, WA factory, and Merle Meyers, a 30-year-employee who worked as a Boeing safety inspector. Meyers alleges parts painted red to mark them as scrap were reincorporated into manufacturing lines \u2013 again, so ambitious production targets would be kept. Meyers says employees who voice concerns about manufacturing safety face negative consequences.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"'Freefall:<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u2018Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Maxwell Archives<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMost of the people [who file complaints] are downgraded in their performance, which is what they did to John [Barnett], and they\u2019re laid off so they\u2019re quietly disposed of and everyone knows you don\u2019t make the waves,\u201d Meyers insisted at the Q&A. \u201cYou don\u2019t speak up [about] unethical or bad behaviors, illegal activity, like we saw with removing the rejection tags [on logbooks], where you saw them deleted. You can\u2019t say anything about that, or you will be marginalized and released one way or another.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Q&A moderator, Michael Scherer of The Atlantic magazine, asked Meyers whether \u201canything has changed\u201d at Boeing since Meyers left.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s gotten worse, in fact,\u201d Meyers replied. \u201cThe place leaks like a sieve. I get calls constantly from [current employees], \u2018Hey, Merle, it\u2019s even worse now than when you were here.\u2019 That kind of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"L-R<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tL-R Michael Stumo, Merle Meyers, director Rory Kennedy and moderator Michael Scherer take part in a discussion following the world premiere of \u2018Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing.\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMatthew Carey<\/p>\n

\n\tMeyers added, \u201cI\u2019m third generation Boeing and in my family, there\u2019s not going to be a fourth generation because my kids have seen the years of struggling with this type of bad management, unethical leadership. And none of their cousins have applied, either. So, it ends with three generations with my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMichael Stumo, father of 24-year-old Samya Stumo who was killed in the 2019 crash of a Boeing 737 Max aircraft \u2014 Ethiopia Airlines flight 302 \u2013 appeared in Downfall and is featured in Freefall. At the Q&A he offered his thoughts on what Boeing could do to restore its once lofty reputation.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey would commit to building the best, innovative, safest planes in the universe and do it,\u201d he stated. \u201cThey have the resources, they have the knowledge, they could do that. Everything else is just air. The other thing is those guys that were disciplining John Barnett, and pushing him against the wall and degrading, demoting the people \u2014 they still have jobs. When they don\u2019t have their jobs, something changes, but they have their jobs today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Downfall and Freefall documentaries argue that Boeing\u2019s company culture deteriorated as company execs prioritized profits and a rising share price over safety. The Boeing board rewarded CEOs for that apparent strategy, showering James McNerney and his successors \u2014 Dennis Muilenburg, Dave Calhoun, and current CEO Kelly Ortberg \u2013 with a total of half a billion dollars or so in compensation.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"The<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe Boeing logo on their building in El Segundo, Calif. on October 17, 2025.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKevin Carter\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tFreefall includes an official statement from Boeing, which says it disputes some of the documentary\u2019s assertions and that it has addressed other safety matters raised by the film. Kennedy says for the most part, her contact with the company has been informal.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI haven\u2019t had really that much engagement with them. I did run into a top executive very randomly through my cousin\u2026 maybe four years ago,\u201d the filmmaker noted. \u201cI talked to [the executive] and she said, \u2018Well, it\u2019s interesting because we did a screening of Downfall and 350 of our top executives all watched it together and I was part of that screening.\u2019 And she said, \u2018It really stunned us. And none of us could find one fact that was incorrect in the film.\u2019 And she said, \u2018We took it very seriously and we reflected on it\u2019 and [she] said all of the things that they keep saying. And then in terms of their actions, you\u2019re just not seeing it.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tSaid Merle Meyers regarding Boeing management, \u201cThey\u2019re going to fall out of their chairs when we see this one.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oscar-nominated filmmaker Rory Kennedy follows a self-imposed rule when she travels by air. \u201cI don\u2019t fly on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[243943,243944,156,243945,409,1094,111,139,69,163006],"class_list":["post-486186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-dc-dox","tag-downfall-the-case-against-boeing","tag-entertainment","tag-freefall-a-reckoning-for-boeing","tag-movies","tag-netflix","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-rory-kennedy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}