Downfall – The Case Against Boeing review: How Boeing got away with murder

3.5/5

Story: A new flight stabilizing system causes two flights to crash within five months of each other. Turns out, the aircraft maker – Boeing – had wilfully neglected to apprise pilots/carriers about the system and its potential danger.

Review: If you’ve worked in the corporate sector long enough, you’d have heard ‘Do more with less’ innumerable times – when the profit margins are not to the liking of top management, cost-cutting measures are the order of the day. What’s new about that, you may wonder. But what if these standards are implemented in an industry where safety is of utmost importance – like for instance, aviation? And hey, we are not talking about carriers not providing meals or entertainment on short-haul flights, among others. We are talking about the very process of making an aircraft, given that air travel is considered the safest mode of long-distance transportation. What if they cut corners to shore up profit margins? Would you still feel safe about going on that next foreign holiday?

The Netflix documentary Downfall: The Case Against Boeing will probably prompt you to check what aircraft your chosen carrier prefers – an Airbus or a Boeing, and chances are, you are going to go for the former. And here’s why. When Airbus introduced a fuel-efficient aircraft that ate up a lot of Boeing’s market share, the latter, desperate to stay in competition, tweaked its workhorse, Boeing 737 (designed over 50 years ago), instead of spending years in R&D of a new machine.

The plan was to introduce an enhanced version of an aircraft that pilots across the world were already accustomed to flying, so, there was no need to train them again. But therein was the trouble – Boeing had, in fact, made a significant change and included a system that was designed to help stabilize an aircraft, but instead sent two planes hurtling to the ground, killing nearly 400 in a span of five months. The first time around, the pilots were caught unawares and the second, they did what Boeing asked them to do – switch it off – and still crashed.

But if that isn’t bad enough, what Boeing did in the interim is far more appalling – it just wouldn’t take the onus for the crash, implied pilot error and eventually tried to brush it under the carpet with a statement about an erroneous MCAS system that could have been overridden with appropriate action from the crew. And get this – pilots had no idea what MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System) was. It was only after the second crash that several countries banned the Boeing 737 Max from flying, with the US being among the last to issue such notice.

Downfall: The Case Against Boeing is an investigative documentary, featuring family of some who lost their lives, including the wife of the pilot in the first crash, pilots, aviation experts, former Boeing employees, journalists who covered the crash and Boeing’s potential involvement, segments from the US Congress investigation into the safety of the 737 Max, among others. It is not a riveting, glued-to-your seat kind of show, but it sure makes you wonder how depraved corporate culture can be. Apparently, even when a CEO who was aware of the safety issues gets fired, he still walks away with $60 million pension benefits. Also, if you make multi-million pay outs, you can avoid criminal prosecution. Well!

Verdict: In just under 100 minutes, Downfall: The Case Against Boeing makes a solid case about the downfalls of corporate greed, laying it out how a once revered firm succumbed to the pressures of Wall Street. Watch it!