In 2024, Boeing aircraft accidents occurred frequently, market confidence was damaged, and the "whistleblower" who exposed Boeing's safety issues suddenly died. United Airlines also suspended orders for Boeing 737 Max 10. It has fallen nearly 27% so far this year, becoming the second worst-performing company in the S&P 500. Less than three months have passed since 2024, and Boeing has been dragged into the vortex of public opinion again and again due to frequent safety accidents. The public even wonders whether Boeing has given up its pursuit of "life safety first."
According to the latest media reports, John Barnett, a former Boeing employee who repeatedly broke the news about Boeing's manufacturing problems, was found dead in his truck parked in the hotel parking lot on March 9 (Saturday), the day he was questioned. The media quoted a forensic report as saying that 62-year-old Barnett died of an apparent "self-inflicted wound" and that the police were investigating the matter.
At the same time, a series of investigations and accountability have also been launched. For Boeing, it is urgent to solve problems such as quality control management and safety production, but the bigger problem is that the market's confidence in it may be difficult to restore.
The US regulatory delay in certifying the 737 MAX series as airworthy has disrupted Boeing's production capacity delivery plan. Boeing's "loyal user" United Airlines has also set its sights on Airbus, which may affect Boeing's performance this year and beyond. Boeing's stock price continues to fall sharply, with a decline of nearly 27% so far this year, making it the second-worst performing company in the S&P 500 Index, second only to Tesla.
Boeing safety whistleblower died in car due to "self-inflicted harm" on the day of questioning
On March 12, media reported that John Barnett, a former Boeing employee who was famous for raising concerns about Boeing's production standards, was found dead in the United States.
Barnett was scheduled for further questioning on March 9, but did not show up. Officials went to the hotel where he was staying to inquire and found him dead in his truck in the hotel parking lot. The media quoted a forensic report as saying that Barnett died of an apparent "self-inflicted wound" and that the police were investigating the matter.
Barnett worked at Boeing for 32 years until retiring due to health reasons in 2017. Until his death, Barnett continued to provide evidence in lawsuits against Boeing. Boeing said it was saddened by Barnett's passing.
Since 2010, Barnett has worked as a quality manager at the North Charleston plant, which produces the Boeing 787 airliner. In 2019, Barnett broke the news to the media that overstressed workers deliberately installed substandard parts on aircraft on the production line. He said:
Soon after starting work in South Carolina, concerns began to arise that the rush to build new aircraft meant that the assembly process was rushed and safety was compromised.
But Boeing denied this, and Barnett pointed out that employees did not follow the factory's parts tracking procedures, resulting in the loss of defective parts. In some cases, he said, substandard parts were even removed from scrap bins and installed on aircraft being built to prevent delays on the production line.
He also claimed that tests of the emergency oxygen supply system to be installed on Boeing 787s showed that its failure rate reached 25%. This means that in the event of an emergency, one out of every four respirators may fail to deploy. Barnett said he alerted management to his concerns but no action was taken.
But in 2017, a review by U.S. regulator the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed some of Barnett's concerns. After retiring, Barnett began a long legal battle against Boeing. He accuses Boeing of defaming his character and hindering his career for pointing out problems. Boeing has denied the accusations.
Before his death, Barnett was in Charleston undergoing legal interviews related to the case. Last week, he formally testified under oath, was questioned by Boeing's lawyers, and was later cross-examined by his own lawyers. He was scheduled to undergo further questioning on March 9, but did not show up. The relevant personnel went to the hotel where he was staying to inquire. Later, they found Barnet dead in his truck in the hotel parking lot.
The media reported in 2020 that Boeing's internal communication records revealed that some employees criticized the Boeing 737 MAX series of passenger aircraft as being "designed by clowns and supervised by monkeys." The report also said that in order to save costs, Boeing only arranged for pilots to use iPads to receive one-hour 737MAX flight training, instead of spending huge amounts of money and a lot of time on flight simulator system training.
Regarding Boeing's series of problems, some media bluntly stated: The company has shifted its focus to financial performance in the past few decades, "at the expense of the safety and quality of the aircraft."
Frequent Boeing accidents in 2024
In January of this year, in just half a month, many Boeing-related accidents occurred around the world. In February, a Boeing aircraft suffered a broken wing and a control system failure. By March, Boeing's situation did not seem to have improved, with 5 accidents occurring in one week:
On January 5, a door of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX9 passenger plane fell off in mid-air.
On January 13, obvious cracks appeared in the cockpit glass of a Boeing 737-800 operated by Japan’s ANA.
On January 17, when U.S. Secretary of State Blinken returned to the United States from the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Switzerland, the Boeing 737 passenger plane he was traveling on suffered an oxygen leak before takeoff and had to replace the aircraft.
On January 18, an Atlas Air Boeing cargo plane experienced an engine failure after taking off from Miami International Airport and was forced to make an emergency return.
On February 19, a United Airlines Boeing 757 flying from San Francisco to Boston made an emergency landing after discovering that one wing was "broken" during the flight.
On March 4, shortly after taking off from Houston, a United Airlines Boeing 737-900 experienced continuous fire in the left engine, and the plane returned and made an emergency landing.
On March 7, a United Airlines Boeing 777-200 flying from San Francisco to Japan made an emergency landing at Los Angeles Airport after a wheel on the left main landing gear fell off after takeoff.
On March 8, after landing in Houston, a United Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 skidded off the runway while taxiing to the boarding gate and crashed into the lawn next to the runway. The aircraft's left main landing gear was damaged. Passengers and crew were not injured.
On March 9, an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX8 passenger plane arrived at Portland Airport and found that the cargo door was open.
On March 11, a Boeing 787-9 passenger plane flying from Sydney, Australia to Auckland, New Zealand, encountered a technical problem. It made a sudden descent during the flight and "drew violently" for several seconds, causing passengers to hit the roof of the cabin, injuring at least 50 people.
Boeing is currently under strict scrutiny from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) due to a number of accidents. The incident of a door jam falling off a MAX passenger plane in early January this year also triggered a criminal investigation by the Department of Justice. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Boeing has not provided assembly line records to prove what steps were taken to ensure safety and quality when a door jam was replaced on an Alaska Airlines plane that may have caused the crash. Boeing says it doesn't actually keep those records.
The FAA said Boeing's safety and quality issues go beyond an inability to provide documentation. In a review of Boeing's production workflows and standards, FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said Monday the regulator found problems with "very significant" aspects of Boeing's manufacturing and assembly lines:
Boeing's problems in production and quality control are not just the lack of documentation, but also involve the sequence of processes, the use of tools and tracking management. Although these problems may seem minor, they are critical to aircraft manufacturers. They reflect whether a company's production management is strict and meticulous, whether it has a complete quality control system and a rigorous operating culture.
Meanwhile, FAA spot checks of Boeing employees showed that the overall average score among six company engineers on their understanding of their quality control processes was 58 percent.
Boeing said it is solving several problems pointed out by the FAA and will submit solutions by the end of May to fix problems in its manufacturing process. Stan Deal, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, noted in a letter to employees that the company will continue to implement changes and develop a comprehensive action plan to strengthen safety and quality management:
Employees must strictly adhere to every step of our manufacturing procedures and processes and remain alert to potential safety hazards.
The gap between Airbus and Boeing widens
Media reports said that in view of these factors, the U.S. government has postponed the flight-worthy certification process for the 737MAX7 and 737MAX10 passenger aircraft, and the certification of the 737MAX10 may be postponed to 2025.
United Airlines suspended orders for the Boeing 737 Max 10 due to a long period of failure to obtain operating permission, and confirmed that it is discussing the purchase of the A321 with Boeing's main competitor Airbus.
As the first user of the MAX10, United Airlines previously ordered 277 MAX10 aircraft from Boeing and signed an agreement with the option to purchase an additional 200 MAX10 aircraft. It is expected that a considerable part of United Airlines' orders may be transferred to A321 in the future.
Some analysts pointed out that this will provide Airbus with an important opportunity to seize market share from its main competitor Boeing. Boeing's difficulties may give Airbus the opportunity to dominate the aviation field. So far in 2024, Boeing has delivered a total of 54 aircraft, while Airbus is significantly ahead with the delivery of 79 aircraft.