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Who is responsible for Boeing's decline?

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Boeing has pleaded guilty to federal felony charges related to two deadly crashes of 737 Max jets. A detailed look at Boeing's two most recent CEOs, and what went wrong under their leadership.
Listen: Our Past Boeing Coverage
- "A Boeing whistleblower speaks out": Ed Pierson is an aviation manager who used to work on Boeing's 737 Max production line. When a door panel blew off an Alaska Airlines flight, Pierson wasn't surprised.
- "How to fix America's aviation system": It’s been almost 15 years since the last deadly plane crash on a U.S. airline. But near misses are on the rise, up 25% in the past decade.
- "Whistleblowers, an executive shakeup, and the future of Boeing": Boeing whistleblower John Barnett was found dead last month, in an apparent suicide. He’d spent the last 7 years speaking out about Boeing’s declining safety and quality.
- "The 737 Max and Boeing’s unresolved issues": In this episode from 2020, we hear from a Boeing engineer and an aviation analyst about what’s at the root of the safety issues with the 737 Max, troubling the plane then and now.
Guests
Andy Pasztor, covered aviation safety for the Wall Street Journal from the 1980s to 2021. He's now writing a book on airline safety.
Peter Robison, investigative journalist for Bloomberg. Author of the book “Flying Blind: The 737 MAX tragedy and the Fall of Boeing.”
Also Featured
Ed Pierson, director of the Foundation for Aviation Safety. Former senior manager at Boeing's 737 Factory in Renton, Washington.
Nadia Milleron, Aviation safety advocate and candidate for Congress in Massachusetts’ First Congressional District. Her daughter, 24-year-old Samya Stumo, died in a 2019 Boeing plane crash.