Boeing has announced that three of its top executives, including CEO Dave Calhoun, are stepping down amidst continued turmoil over the safety of its passenger jets.
The aerospace giant, which has been at the center of an escalating scandal since a serious incident involving a Boeing 737 Max plane, made the announcement on Monday.
The Gateway Pundit previously reported that Alaska flight 1282, a Boeing 737-9 MAX bound for Ontario, California, departed Portland, Oregon, just after 5 pm Pacific time earlier this year when a deactivated emergency door used as a regular cabin window blew out at 16,000 feet. Six crew members and 171 passengers were aboard the jet.
Dave Calhoun, who has served as President and CEO, will be stepping down at the end of 2024 but will remain at the helm through the year.
“As you all know, the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 accident was a watershed moment for Boeing,” Calhoun wrote to employees on Monday, per CNBC.
“We must continue to respond to this accident with humility and complete transparency. We also must inculcate a total commitment to safety and quality at every level of our company.
“The eyes of the world are on us, and I know we will come through this moment a better company, building on all the learnings we accumulated as we worked together to rebuild Boeing over the last number of years,” he wrote.
Alongside him, Stan Deal, the CEO and president of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, and Chairman Larry Kellner, who has opted not to seek reelection at the next shareholders’ meeting, are also departing.
CNBC reported:
Chairman of the board Larry Kellner is also resigning and will leave the board at Boeing’s annual meeting in May. He has been replaced as chair by Steve Mollenkopf, who has been a Boeing director since 2020.
And Stan Deal, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, is leaving the company effective immediately. Moving into his job is Stephanie Pope, who recently became Boeing’s Chief Operating Officer after previously running Boeing Global Services.
The departures come as airlines and regulators have been increasing calls for major changes at the company after a host of quality and manufacturing flaws on Boeing planes. Scrutiny intensified after a Jan. 5 accident, when a door plug blew out of a nearly new Boeing 737 Max 9, minutes into an Alaska Airlines flight.
Last week, airline CEOs started scheduling meetings with Boeing directors to voice their displeasure at the lack of manufacturing quality controls and lower than expected production of 737 Max planes. The meetings were to include Kellner and one or more other board members.
Calhoun for months has promised investors, airline customers and the general public that Boeing will get its myriad quality struggles under control.
Calhoun was appointed to the top job in late 2019 and took the helm at Boeing in early 2020 after the company ousted its previous chief executive, Dennis Muilenburg, for his handling of the aftermath of two deadly 737 Max crashes.
The controversy shows no signs of abating as the FBI recently informed passengers of Flight 1282 that their experience might constitute a crime, an angle still under investigation.
CBS News has obtained a copy of the correspondence, which reveals the ongoing investigation into the harrowing incident aboard Flight No. 1282.
“I’m contacting you because we have identified you as a possible victim of a crime,” the FBI letter said. “This case is currently under investigation by the FBI. A criminal investigation can be a lengthy undertaking, and, for several reasons, we cannot tell you about its progress at this time.”
The probe into this incident contributes to an expanding portfolio of legal challenges confronting Boeing.
Yahoo News reported:
March 2024
- The FAA’s 737 Max production audit finds multiple instances where Boeing allegedly did not comply with manufacturing quality control requirements.
- In two separate incidents, a Boeing 777-200 loses a wheel during takeoff from San Francisco and a Boeing 737 skids off the runway after landing in Houston.
- The next week, a prominent Boeing whistleblower — former employee John Barnett — dies by suicide while in Charleston, S.C., for a deposition for a lawsuit against Boeing.
- A Boeing 787 Dreamliner nose-dives during a flight from Sydney to Auckland, New Zealand, injuring at least 50 people, on the same day a Boeing 777 flight from Sydney is forced to turn around due to a maintenance issue.
- Another Boeing 777 is forced to make an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport after pilots report a flat tire.
- A Boeing 737 that took off from San Francisco later that week is found to be missing a panel during a postflight inspection.
February 2024
- The NTSB publishes a preliminary report that found the Alaska Airlines flight was missing four key bolts, which is why the door plug blew out.
January 2024
- Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 experiences a door plug blowout midflight. The FAA subsequently grounds all Max 9 aircraft to investigate.
December 2023
- Boeing urges airlines to inspect all 737 Max jets for potential loose hardware in the plane’s rudder control systems.
August 2023
- Boeing reports a supplier quality issue with 737 Max planes involving improperly drilled holes.
October 2022
- The FAA tells Boeing that some documents submitted for the certification review of the 737 Max 7 are incomplete.
March 2021
- China’s aviation regulator claims there are major safety concerns with the Boeing Max jets.
November 2020
- The FAA allows Boeing 737 Max planes to fly again.
September 2020
- An 18-month-long investigation by a House of Representatives panel concludes that Boeing failed in its design and development of the Max aircraft and was not fully transparent with the FAA.
January 2020
- Boeing suspends all 737 production.
March 2019
- Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a Boeing 737 Max 8, reports a “flight control” problem to the control tower one minute after taking off from Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The plane crashes six minutes after takeoff, killing all 157 people on board.
- China decides to ground all Boeing 737 Max planes. The FAA follows.
November 2018
- The FAA and Boeing announce they are investigating software and design changes on all 737 Max planes following the Lion Air crash.
October 2018
- Lion Air Flight 610, a Boeing 737 Max aircraft, crashes 13 minutes after takeoff from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Indonesia. All 189 on board are killed.
As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, it turns out that woke diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) standards, not unexpectedly, may have played a role in this horrifying incident that could have killed nearly 200 passengers and caused other fatalities on the ground below.
Biden’s federal agencies and many US companies, including airlines, prioritize DEI and race or gender identity over job candidates’ abilities in the hiring process. Not only is it racist to judge employees based on the color of their skin, but this could create serious risks for the public, especially when it comes to our planes, trains, and automobiles.
Also, The Gateway Pundit previously reported Boeing whistleblower John Barnett was found dead from a self-inflicted wound inside his vehicle outside a hotel in Charleston, South Carolina days after testifying against the airplane company.
John Barnett was found dead on March 9. He worked for Boeing for 32 years until he retired in 2017.
“Barnett’s death came during a break in depositions in a whistleblower retaliation suit, where he alleged under-pressure workers were deliberately fitting sub-standard parts to aircraft on the assembly line.” the Daily Mail reported.
Barnett’s lawyers are asking for a thorough probe because they don’t believe he committed suicide.
“John was in the midst of a deposition in his whistleblower case, which finally was nearing the end,” Barnett’s lawyers said, according to The New York Post. “He was in very good spirits and really looking forward to putting this phase of his life behind him and moving on.”
A close family friend of John Barnett disclosed his haunting premonition before his untimely death.
Jennifer, whose mother has been lifelong friends with Barnett’s mother, shared that Barnett had expressed concerns about potentially ending up dead in a scenario falsely framed as suicide.
Jennifer recounted her conversations with Barnett, emphasizing his love for life and dismissing any possibility that he could have taken his own life.
“He wasn’t concerned about safety because I asked him, I said, aren’t you scared? And his voice and the way he would talk, ‘no, I ain’t scared,’ he said, but if anything happens to me, it’s not suicide. I know that he did not commit suicide. There’s no way. He loved life too much. He loved his family too much. He loved his brothers too much to put them through what they’re going through right now,” she said.