Boeing’s Lost Bolts Reveals an Even Larger Leadership Crisis for America by Lawrence Kadish
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20394/boeing-leadership-crisis
There was a time when any aircraft Boeing built was a flying example of American innovation, excellence, and aviation dominance. They were the cornerstone of a multi-billion dollar sector of our nation’s economy.
Shockingly, that is no longer the case, as they suffer a series of issues with the latest news that crucial bolts were never replaced in a 737 MAX 9 from which a door plug blew off in mid-flight.
While the issue of safety is paramount, Boeing’s apparent loss of manufacturing quality control has the means to deprive the United States of global leadership in this crucial arena. And Boeing’s airliner woes are not their only issue. Their military contracts are also facing problems, in the form of the much troubled KC-46 tanker.
Overseas, Airbus, a one-time distant second in manufacturing airliners, has a book of backorders that runs far into the future. And the Chinese are acquiring subcontracting work on airline components that is anything but a casual sideline.
Make no mistake. Boeing’s woes are ours as well, for this onetime leader in aviation has made a series of missteps that go far beyond their own financial and reputational damage. The company has compelled a worldwide market to ask whether the United States has slid into mediocrity. In aviation, that is nothing less than catastrophic. Wall Street analysts may do the numbers regarding Boeing’s future, but we need to ask ourselves, especially this year, have Americans lost their sense of pride in the work they do? In our nation? In our future? Is Boeing’s crisis symptomatic of our nation’s challenges at a time when deliberate disinformation is designed to break our spirit and abdicate our leadership?
At a time of enormous turmoil here and around the world, it is time we took stock in who we are, where we came from, and why leadership – whether it’s in the “C-suite” or the Oval Office – truly matters.
Lawrence Kadish serves on the Board of Governors of Gatestone Institute.
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