Flying Blind: The 737 Max Tragedy and the Fall of Boeing

By Peter Robison

Book Overview

NEW YORK TIMES BUSINESS BESTSELLER - A suspenseful behind-the-scenes look at the dysfunction that contributed to one of the worst tragedies in modern aviation: the 2018 and 2019 crashes of the Boeing 737 MAX.

An "authoritative, gripping and finely detailed narrative that charts the decline of one of the great American companies" (New York Times Book Review), from the award-winning reporter for Bloomberg.

Boeing is a century-old titan of industry. It played a major role in the early days of commercial flight, World War II bombing missions, and moon landings. The planemaker remains a cornerstone of the U.S. economy, as well as a linchpin in the awesome routine of modern air travel. But in 2018 and 2019, two crashes of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 killed 346 people. The crashes exposed a shocking pattern of malfeasance, leading to the biggest crisis in the company's history--and one of the costliest corporate scandals ever.

How did things go so horribly wrong at Boeing?

Flying Blind is the definitive expos of the disasters that transfixed the world. Drawing from exclusive interviews with current and former employees of Boeing and the FAA; industry executives and analysts; and family members of the victims, it reveals how a broken corporate culture paved the way for catastrophe. It shows how in the race to beat the competition and reward top executives, Boeing skimped on testing, pressured employees to meet unrealistic deadlines, and convinced regulators to put planes into service without properly equipping them or their pilots for flight. It examines how the company, once a treasured American innovator, became obsessed with the bottom line, putting shareholders over customers, employees, and communities.

By Bloomberg investigative journalist Peter Robison, who covered Boeing as a beat reporter during the company's fateful merger with McDonnell Douglas in the late '90s, this is the story of a business gone wildly off course. At once riveting and disturbing, it shows how an iconic company fell prey to a win-at-all-costs mentality, threatening an industry and endangering countless lives.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385546491
• ISBN13: 9780385546492
• Release Date: November 2021
• Publisher: Doubleday Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Biased

The mark of a good journalist is the ability to tell a story without revealing his personal biases. The author fails to provide this, which makes his entire reporting unreliable.

Well researched explanation of how the families of Boeing resulted in the 737 crashes

This book is an excellent read for those that want to understand the Boeing 737 tragedy. The depth of research supports the explanation of how personal greed changed the culture of Boeing. It demonstrated how a focus of senior leaders on profit and stock price can drive their personal greed to realize share options. The personal decisions made for a corporation essentially place personal rewards above the safety of passengers and product quality of their customers. There may be too much on the personal lives of the senior leaders, but it does highlight how those character flaws may have played a role in the erosion of the Boeing culture after merging with McDonnell Douglas. Excellent read.