The search for accountability at all levels is the driving force in Netflix’s new documentary, "Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing."
The documentary, from Oscar-nominee Rory Kennedy, is a follow up to her 2022 investigative look at the two crashes of brand-new Boeing aircrafts that took place within five months of each other in 2018 in the documentary “DOWNFALL: The Case Against Boeing.”
“Freefall” focuses on the whistleblowers who were witnessing a decline in Boeing’s safety and quality standards, including John Barnett, who died by suicide in 2024 after his second day of providing deposition materials in his whistleblower case against the airline company.
ABC News 4 in South Carolina covered the death of Barnett and another whistleblower, Josh Dean, in their 2024 investigative report, “The Showstoppers: Boeing’s No Fly Zone.” Some of journalist Anne Emerson’s work was shown in “Freefall” as well, near the end of the documentary as questions arose about Barnett’s death.
Emerson also interviewed Roy Irvin, who appeared in “Freefall” and an additional whistleblower, Santiago Paredes, who worked for Spirit AeroSystems in Kansas, which supplied parts to Boeing. Paredes earned the nickname “showstopper” for slowing down production with his concerns, a title he stands by in his interview as he, like Barnett and Dean, strived to ensure the safety of airline passengers.
Barnett’s death sparked a flurry of conspiracy and rumors, but those are not the focus of “Freefall.” Instead,...
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