Rory Kennedy Is Keeping Both Feet On the Ground
The film follows whistleblowers and victims’ families as Boeing faces renewed scrutiny over safety culture, retaliation claims, and 346 deaths from two 737 MAX crashes.
- On Wednesday, August 19, 2026, filmmaker Rory Kennedy released 'Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing' on Netflix, a sequel to her 2022 documentary 'Downfall: The Case Against Boeing' that reexamines the aerospace company's safety practices.
- Kennedy investigates how former Boeing CEO James McNerney allegedly prioritized 'profits over people,' a strategy critics link to the 2018 and 2019 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people and prompted the company's downfall.
- The film centers on whistleblower John Barnett, a longtime Boeing quality manager who died in March 2024 under what Kennedy describes as 'quite suspicious circumstances' during his deposition against the company.
- Boeing stated that some allegations in the film 'remain unfounded claims to this day,' while asserting the company has implemented safety improvements under rigorous regulatory oversight.
- Kennedy advocates for a 'larger correction' to ensure corporations prioritize public interest over profit, as recent FAA findings reveal 31,000 seats on 737 MAX planes are improperly installed and may disengage during emergencies.
11 Articles
11 Articles
The True Story Behind 'Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing'
A still from Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing —Courtesy of NetflixFor Boeing, Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 live in infamy. The first plane crashed in October 2018 in the Java Sea shortly after taking off, and the second crashed in central Ethiopia only five months later. Both were Boeing 373 Max aircrafts, a newer and more fuel efficient model that had was certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2017. W…
Boeing whistleblower John Barnett's mysterious death and furious final words
WARNING - DISTRESSING CONTENT: New Netflix documentary Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing, investigates the story of Boeing whistleblower John Barnett, who was found dead in his truck in 2024
‘Freefall’: A Kennedy Scion Probes the Mysterious Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
Rory Kennedy thought she was through with Boeing. The Oscar-nominated filmmaker behind “Last Days in Vietnam” and “Ghosts of Abu Ghraib” — and youngest child of late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy — had spent years making “Downfall: The Case Against Boeing,” a 2022 documentary exploring the “profits over people” approach at the […]
Rory Kennedy's 'Freefall' reexamines Boeing after whistleblower's death
A follow-up to "Downfall: The Case Against Boeing," Kennedy's new documentary remains focused on the aerospace company but paints a broader portrait of the dangers of unfettered capitalism.
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