A topic of conversation that has been prevalent in the news lately has been Boeing, an aircraft manufacturing company. As of last year, this company makes 101.1 billion in revenue and branches into airplane, rocket, satellite, and missile production. The company was created in 1916 by William Boeing, who had a fascination with aviation. According to his family and coworkers, he was a man of precision, dedication, and curiosity as reflected in the following quote:

“My firm conviction from the start has been that science and hard work can [overcome] what appear to be insurmountable difficulties. I’ve tried to make the men around me feel, as I do, that we are embarked as pioneers upon a new science and industry in which our problems are so new and unusual that it behooves no one to dismiss any novel idea with the statement that it can’t be done.” – William Boeing

Despite Boeing’s high regard in the scientific community, it has recently been the subject of much controversy concerning its aircraft failures. Though back-up systems were present on the planes, they were not activated, “leading to the crashes of Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines jetliners less than five months apart” according to USA Today. It is now cutting production of its most popular design, the 737 Max, which crashed in Indonesia and Ethiopia. The most recent Ethiopian crash ended the lives of 157 people from 35 different nations shortly after take off. Now all 737 Max planes are grounded as of a recent decision by Trump and other world leaders.

Boeing as a company is facing a lot of trouble. It is taking the heat of multiple lawsuits and facing a drastic decline in its stocks. Though it claims to have solved the problems that caused the trash, many people are hesitant to trust the company and forgive it for the many innocent lives lost in the crash. As Boeing now realizes, it takes decades to build up such a strong reputation and only a few months to tear it down. Now it will take years before Boeing can restore the trust of the worldwide community.

Resources:

https://disciplesofflight.com/william-boeing/

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47834556

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/13/business/canada-737-max.html