The only conspiracy in Freefall: A Reckoning For Boeing is corporate rot

Kennedy’s follow-up takes an even closer look at the behind-the-scenes shift at Boeing through the experience of John Barnett, one of the former Boeing employees who voiced his concerns as the company systemically cut corners to turn bigger profits. He was one of the voices in Kennedy’s Downfall, sounding the alarm over the way Boeing’s standards slipped when it merged with another manufacturer, McDonnell Douglas, and hired CEOs who looked up to former GE CEO Jack Welch. The sequel documentary begins with the day of his deposition: After seven hours of questioning, he returns to his hotel for the night, only to be found dead in his car hours later, unleashing conspiratorial suspicions about what he really knew about Boeing.

Only, Barnett was telling the same stories he had told many times before, including in Downfall—from the slippery safety checks in the non-unionized South Carolina plant, to finding debris in planes that could cause a fire or an electrical short, to the retaliation from management for raising concerns. 

After his testimony and death (which Downfall also investigates, substantiating the coroner’s ruling that Barnett died by suicide), other whistleblowers from Boeing came forward and told their stories. Together, they paint a bleak but clear picture of how a company once known for impeccable safety standards slowly chipped away at its own sterling record. They outsourced manufacturing parts throughout the world, only to get plane pieces that no longer fit together. Leadership sought to disempower longtime employees like Barnett, moving the manufacturing of a whole troubled line of planes to a far-off non-union factory. Inspectors approved planes that were using broken or missing parts—like the bolts that were supposed to hold a door in place, which popped off during a flight where the oxygen masks also didn’t work for everyone.

Despite Barnett’s death, none of this is a grand conspiracy; Boeing falling from its lofty perch (and its planes from the sky) is just another example, if extreme, of good things getting worse. Just as enshittification applies to the degrading digital landscape, like dating apps that only really work for paid subscribers, it also encompasses brand-name clothes made from shoddy materials, cars hampered by new sensors and software needs, and kitchenware degrading after a few years. The only difference is that these were planes, each with over a hundred people aboard, that had been saddled with faulty technology, manufactured with mistakes, and assigned pilots who didn’t realize the full scope of what lay behind their cockpit. 

The rest is familiar. CEOs like Dennis Muilenburg and David Calhoun deflected and blamed others, refusing to take any responsibility even when there was mounting evidence that they knew exactly what the consequences would be for their corner-cutting. They landed with golden parachutes, coming out unscathed after putting profits over people. There was little out of the ordinary about Barnett being a canary in the airplane hanger, warning of the approaching danger. It’s refreshing that Freefall sets aside the conspiracy theories in favor of the facts—as mundane and depressing as they may be.