Boeing's Safety Concerns Exposed in New Documentary
A new documentary, Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing, sheds light on the safety concerns surrounding Boeing aircraft. The film explores the experiences of quality engineers and whistleblowers who raised concerns about the company's manufacturing practices but were met with corporate pressure.
The documentary focuses on the 2025 crash of Air India Flight AI 171, which killed 260 people, and the 2022 crashes of two Boeing 737 MAX aircraft that resulted in 346 deaths. Through testimonies from Boeing employees and whistleblowers, including Merle Meyers, Roy Irvin, Sam Mohawk, and Sam Salehpour, the film builds a picture of a workforce at odds with its leadership over safety and accountability.
The documentary's central question is what happens when those responsible for ensuring an aircraft's safety no longer feel heard by their own company. It points to allegations of damaged parts being used, tests being falsified, and production schedules being hurried, suggesting that such lapses were not always hidden from management.
Kennedy avoids drowning the viewer in technical jargon, instead using testimony, documents, and visual evidence to explain how seemingly small compromises can become matters of life and death. The film also revisits the 2024 Alaska Airlines incident, combining footage with passengers' texts to their families to transform a manufacturing failure into something immediate and frightening.