Boeing’s legacy vanished into thin air. Saving it will take years
The aircraft maker’s name and its troubled 737 Max model are linked to some of the worst aircraft safety and design failures in recent aviation history.
Julie Johnsson, Anthony Palazzo, Siddharth Vikram Philip and Ryan Beene
Back in October, Boeing chief executive Dave Calhoun sought to rally employees reeling from a manufacturing setback, this time involving wrongly drilled holes in a crucial aircraft section – yet another blow to a company that once enjoyed a sterling reputation for building awesome flying machines.
“I have heard those outside our company wondering if we’ve lost a step. I view it as quite the opposite,” Calhoun wrote in a company memo, going on to tout the “rigor around our quality processes” at the US aircraft manufacturer. “I am proud of the team, and confident we’ll look back on this time period as when we took the necessary steps that set Boeing on the right course for the future.”
![“We’re having a birthday party for [daughter] Rada in a few weeks and we’re going to get the truck to come, which is a real flex,” O’Neill says.](https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.7012%2C$multiply_2%2C$ratio_1.777778%2C$width_1059%2C$x_732%2C$y_641/t_crop_custom/c_scale%2Cw_600%2Cq_52%2Cf_auto/b5e4395344f07ccd1e3a348af02af77c8eeb8d1b)
