Boeing: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

John Oliver discusses how Boeing went from being a company known for quality craftsmanship to one synonymous with crashes, mishaps, and “quality escape.” Whatever that means.

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[oqtlmey]

I worked for Boeing for nearly 40 years. Retired in 2019. The problems all started when McDonnell Douglas “merged” with us. The whole business model changed from producing quality products to making more money. Period. Just as depicted in this piece. I saw it with my own eyes and lived it every day. So sad. I loved my company and it was like watching someone you love die from a slow and painful death.

[CocoNut-ydri]

Two whistleblower deaths later, this episode was about three weeks too early. I hope we get a Boeing II episode soon

[Freelancehippy]

Boeing is the sound it makes when the door springs off.

[stefangla]

"Started by the spirit of innovation, killed by greed." is pretty much a tagline for our modern society.

[noahbetts]

I'm an engineering student in Seattle, and took a class this quarter that brought in a bunch of Boeing employees as mentors for us. The midterm for the class was a presentation in front of about a dozen Boeing engineers. One group was presenting on fasteners, and got to the topic of torque wrenches, which tell you how tight a bolt is when you tighten it. This dude, standing in front of all these Boeing engineers, says "torque wrenches are important because if the bolt is too tight, then it will put stress on the bolt, and if it's too loose, then you could lose a part... like a door."
The reactions from the mentors were priceless.

[KathleenERoberts]

RIP Pius Adabola Adesanmi, who was one of my university professors at Carleton University and who died in the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on a Boeing 737 Max. He was a funny, lighthearted, and intelligent man who taught African Literature. I've heard his family is suing The Boeing Company for this tragic accident. May in rest in brilliance.

[Zyo]

"We went to Business school, get on our plane!"

Wow that was scarily accurate.

[pillington]

"The employees feared retaliation for raising safety related concerns." -> Boeing whisteblower was just found dead today. I wonder if John needs to do a follow up video.

[betterchapter]

My dad has a degree in chemistry and worked as a manager. He always said:
"It is much easier to teach an engineer some accounting than to teach an MBA science."

[bankrobber]

this is even scarier now that two boeing whistle blowers mysteriously died shortly after one another

[janicepaisley]

I had a great uncle that worked for McDonnell-Douglas (now BOEING) until he retired in the 1980/90’s. He is long passed away. He would not fly, even though he could do so for free, sighting he saw what happened on the assembly line. He would drive back to Saskatchewan, Canada from Seattle. More than 1200miles (1800km).

[livetesla.motors]

Best part was learning you can exclude certain planes on kayak

[nickelbacksinger]

So what I'm understanding is.... Boeing stopped being Boeing, and became McDonell Douglas with a Boeing halloween costume. RIP Boeing 1916-1997

[ellvvbi]

In light of the recent 2nd whistleblower death, perhaps an emergency follow up to this episode is needed.

[vst]

New merch should be: If it's Boeing, I ain't going.

[eq]

I worked at Boeing as an Aerospace Engineer on the 787 program and was retaliated against when I disclosed to the FAA that a flight critical component didn't meet the quality and structural integrity requirements.

[TheRickay]

Whats f*cking crazy is that a Boeing whistleblower was found dead inside his car with a self inflicted gun wound just yesterday..

[TimTheTiredMan]

How about "Even if it's Boeing, you should be whistleblowing"

[brewilde]

Wow, this just made me realize when ny dad was asking what model of plane my flight to europe was on in 2010 he was expressing a legitimate safety concern. I thought he was being a weird car guy lol

[syvarris]

My uncle is an engineer at Boeing. I remember, about a decade ago, having a conversation with him about how the old board, who were mostly other engineers, were all gone. They were replaced by the usual corporate types who didn’t seem to understand that you can’t cut corners in aviation.