How Boeing Went From America's Pride to Its Biggest Scandal

Boeing began in 1916 in a red boatyard on the Duwamish River in Seattle, founded by a timber millionaire who had never managed to get a ride in an airplane. A century later it was facing a criminal case brought by the United States government. This film follows the whole company. It covers the early seaplanes and the Navy's war orders, the furniture it built to keep workers busy, the airmail bid that saved it, and the 1934 breakup that forced William Boeing out. It also goes through the jet age and the 747. Then it turns to the 1997 merger with McDonnell Douglas and the change in who ran the company. From there it covers the 737 MAX, the two crashes less than five months apart in 2018 and 2019, the grounding, and the years of fallout, including the guilty plea a judge rejected, the strike and the rival that took the lead. It answers one question: how did America's proudest manufacturer become its biggest corporate scandal? It sticks to the public record.