One of the most heart-stopping moments in Netflix's new documentary, Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing, is the scene where Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 has just suffered a mid-air blowout, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the fuselage. As the aircraft rapidly decompresses at 16,000 feet, panicked passengers begin sending what they fear could be their final messages to the people they love, convinced they are going to die.
Reliving the 2024 incident is harrowing even when watched from the comfort of a living room, and one of many shocking accounts in the documentary by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Rory Kennedy.
A follow-up to her acclaimed 2022 documentary, Downfall: The Case Against Boeing, the sequel follows the highly publicised death of Boeing whistle-blower John Barnett and uncovers startling revelations while amplifying the voices of whistle-blowers and the families of victims of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. The two Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft crashed within months of each other between 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people.
Freefall does not simply retell those crashes. It asks what happened afterwards – and whether Boeing ever truly learnt from them.
Pursuit of profit
Kennedy opens the film by looking backwards, suggesting a shift in the culture under former chief executive Jim McNerney. Through former employees, industry insiders and journalists, she presents a picture of a company in which the pursuit of speed and savings increasingly came into conflict with the meticulous approach to manufacturing on which Boeing had built its reputation – including its decision to outsource significant portions of the development and manufacture of the 787 Dreamliner to suppliers around the world.
At the heart of the documentary is Barnett. The former Boeing quality manager spent years raising concerns about manufacturing practices at the company's 787 Dreamliner plant in South Carolina. He alleged that workers were under pressure to rush aircraft through production and that defective parts could make their way on to planes.
Barnett became one of Boeing's most prominent whistle-blowers and also appeared in Downfall. In March 2024, while involved in legal proceedings against Boeing, he was found dead in his vehicle in South Carolina. His death was ruled a suicide.
Freefall explores the enormous toll his battle with the company had taken on him. His lawyers, who feature prominently in the film, are unequivocal about where they believe responsibility lies.
But Kennedy does not rely on Barnett alone. Other whistle-blowers describe their own experiences of raising safety concerns, creating the impression of a problem that extended far beyond one disgruntled employee.
The families who refuse to go away
The other voices that give Freefall its emotional weight belong to the families of those killed. Among them is Naoise Connolly Ryan, whose husband, Mick Ryan, a UN employee, died aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.
“My kids are aware that their dad went on a plane and that the plane was made by bad guys,” she says in the film.
The anger of the families is directed not only at Boeing, but also at the US justice system. The film captures the strain endured by families and whistle-blowers as they campaigned for accountability during a three-year deferred prosecution agreement reached between Boeing and the US Department of Justice in 2021. The deal allowed the company to avoid prosecution on a criminal charge provided it met certain conditions.
The issue was thrust back into the spotlight in 2024 following the Alaska Airlines mid-flight incident, just days before the agreement's three-year term was due to expire, prompting renewed scrutiny of Boeing’s safety culture and the agreement’s effectiveness.
Business as usual?
Perhaps the most uneasy aspect of Freefall is the feeling of repetition. The 737 Max was grounded around the world following the two fatal crashes. Investigations followed. Boeing executives were questioned. Changes were promised. Then the aircraft returned to the skies.
But no Boeing chief executive has faced criminal charges over the disasters.
And that's why the title feels deliberately unresolved. The “reckoning” is not something Kennedy believes has already happened. It is what the families and whistle-blowers featured in the documentary are still demanding.
“Something has to change,” one of them says. Freefall offers no reassurance that it will.
