How Boeing Broke Itself...

Boeing delivered a new 737-9 to Alaska Airlines with the four bolts of a door plug missing. The NTSB put it on Boeing's training and oversight. How did the company William Boeing founded get there? This film follows Boeing from William Boeing's 1916 company and the 777's Working Together method through the 1997 McDonnell Douglas merger, the 737 MAX and its MCAS software, the two crashes, Dennis Muilenburg's resignation and the $2.5 billion deferred prosecution agreement, to the Alaska Airlines door plug. Boeing's responses are included, among them its apology to the FAA, Congress, airlines and the flying public. It ends with Kelly Ortberg's Boeing and the return of Spirit AeroSystems. As of October 2026: the FAA has certified the 737 MAX 7 and Boeing is moving 737 production to 47 jets a month; the criminal charge against Boeing was dismissed in November 2025, and in March 2026 the Fifth Circuit denied the families' petitions. 0:00 Cold open 1:03 The engineers' company 3:34 The merger 7:13 The MAX 11:03 The reckoning 15:27 The door plug 21:21 Where it stands This video covers events in which people died. If it affects you, support is available: in the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, call Samaritans on 116 123; elsewhere, find a local helpline at https://findahelpline.com. This video discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available: in the US, call or text 988 (988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline); in the UK and Ireland, call Samaritans on 116 123; elsewhere, find a local helpline at https://findahelpline.com. Charts, diagrams, 3D aircraft and staged scenes with grey figures are our own labelled reconstructions from the official record; documents are the real pages; quotes are verbatim. Sources: every fact in this film is checked against the sources in our ledger (164 sources); full list: https://unmadedocs.github.io/sources/... Key sources: [200] National Transportation Safety Board, NTSB Aviation Investigation Report AIR-25-04: In-Flight Separation of Left Mid Exit Door… https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/A... [100] U.S. House Committee on Transportation…, The Design, Development & Certification of the Boeing 737 MAX - Final Committee Report… https://democrats-transportation.hous... [104] U.S. Department of Justice, Deferred Prosecution Agreement, United States v. The Boeing Company (N.D. Tex.), filed as… https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... [108] Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, EAIB Ethiopia, Investigation Report on Accident to the B737-MAX8 ET-AVJ, 10 March 2019… https://bea.aero/fileadmin/user_uploa... [210] U.S. District Court for the Northern…, Memorandum Opinion and Order granting the Government's Motion to Dismiss, United States… https://www.justice.gov/criminal/medi... Corrections: none as of publication. If you spot an error, tell us in the comments with a source; corrections are pinned and listed here with their date. Credits. Music and sound: generated with ElevenLabs for Unmade (commercial terms). Photos (cropped and graded), via Wikimedia Commons, Flickr and rawpixel: Charles from Port Chester, Dan Bennett, Dave Sizer/Altair78, Hawaii Air National Guard, Jeff Hitchcock, Medill DC, Seattle Municipal Archives, Shook Photos, lasta29 (CC BY 2.0); Chalmers Butterfield (CC BY 2.5); Bobak Ha'Eri, David Broad (CC BY 3.0); 4300streetcar, APK, GeoMancer448, LA Times Photographic Archive/UCLA, Quintin Soloviev (CC BY 4.0); Aero Icarus, Alan Wilson, John Crowley, Nick Dean, brewbooks, mr_t_77, sloppyperfectionist, Boushh_TFA/Altair78 (CC BY-SA 2.0); Spaceaero2/Altair78, TUFKAAP (CC BY-SA 3.0); ECTran71, Funforme3, HaSt, Renelibrary, SounderBruce, Truflip99 (CC BY-SA 4.0); Carol M Highsmith, DCAllStar, US Treasury, aeroman3 (CC0); hokuriku_e7, NTSB, NASA, US Senate (public domain). Footage: Pan Am 1959 (public domain); Polygoon-Profilti/Beeld en Geluid (CC BY-SA 3.0 NL); Jetstar Airways (CC BY-SA 2.0); Heylenny (CC BY-SA 4.0); John Veit (CC0); US Senate hearings, NASA (public domain). 3D models: "Boeing 737 MAX 8" by Dlourine, "Boeing 787-8" by rocket0314 (CC BY 4.0, Sketchfab, modified); HDRI Poly Haven (CC0); figures Microsoft Rocketbox (MIT). Source pages shown under fair use for commentary. Licences: creativecommons.org/licenses. Unmade: how giants come undone. New film every Sunday, @unmadedocs. #Boeing #737MAX #Documentary #AlaskaAirlines #MCAS #McDonnellDouglas #DennisMuilenburg #KellyOrtberg #SpiritAeroSystems #NTSB #aviation #UnmadeDocs