Flight Global: Analysts fault Boeing guilty fraud plea for lack of leadership change

John Goglia lends his perspective to the latest legal issues with Boeing. Boeing intends to plead guilty to criminal charges that it defrauded the Federal Aviation Administration under a deal that would see it invest nearly half a billion dollars in quality improvements and be subject to three years of compliance monitoring.

“I think this actually worked out better for the travelling public than people realise,” says aviation safety consultant and former National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member John Goglia. “Now, they have a dollar value that they have to invest in the operation, and they have a panel of overseers to make sure they follow through.

Investigators have focused on repeated quality problems arising at Boeing’s 737 production facility in Renton, Washington

What would have made the plea deal more effective? “Replacement of the whole senior management,” Goglia adds.