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LONGLISTED FOR THE FT BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2022

‘A startling investigation of the corporate blunders behind the tragedies that claimed the lives of 346 passengers.’ – The Times

‘A compelling, deeply reported account written in crisp, controlled anger…an indictment not just of on of America’s most celebrated companies, but of an entire era.’ – Financial Times

‘An authoritative, gripping and finely detailed narrative that charts the decline of one of the great American companies.’ – New York Times Book Review

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Discover the corporate scandal that transfixed the world, cost hundreds of innocent lives, and almost destroyed a global institution.

Boeing is a century-old titan of industry, having played a role in the early days of commercial flight, Second World War bombing missions and even moon landings. Yet in 2018 and 2019, two crashes of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 killed 346 people. The crashes exposed a shocking pattern of malfeasance, leading to the biggest crisis in the company’s history – and one of the costliest corporate scandals ever. How did things go so horribly wrong?

Flying Blind is the definitive account of the disasters that shocked the world; a chilling, behind-the-scenes look at the corporate dysfunction which contributed to one of the worst tragedies in modern aviation. It’s an expose of a reckless culture where – in a race to beat the competition and reward top executives – Boeing skimped on testing, pressured employees to meet unrealistic deadlines and ultimately convinced regulators to put planes into the air without properly equipping them or their pilots for flight.

From award-winning Bloomberg investigative journalist Peter Robison, this is the story of a business gone wildly off course. At once endlessly fascinating and deeply disturbing, it shows how the iconic company fell prey to a win-at-all-costs mentality, threatening an industry and sacrificing countless lives.

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‘An urgent, compelling and richly reported story of how the almighty profit motive supplanted a culture of engineering excellence, and the avoidable calamity that has impacted all of us as a result.’ – Brad Stone, author of Amazon Unbound and The Everything Store

‘A story everyone – every consumer, every citizen, every worker in every industry – needs to read.’ – Diana B. Henriques, NYT bestselling author of The Death of Trust and The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff

‘The astoundingly well reported and beautifully told story of the downfall of what was once a great American company. A must-read.’ – Bethany McClean, author of All The Devils Are Here and The Smartest Guys In The Room

Publisher Review

Vividly written and meticulously researched, Flying Blind is a story everyone-every consumer, every citizen, every worker in every industry-needs to read. Peter Robison brilliantly places Boeing's deadly downfall within the larger tragedy of an American business culture that gradually has smashed every altar but the one where the bottom line is worshipped. * Diana B. Henriques, New York Times bestselling author of The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust * Peter Robison's compelling and richly reported Flying Blind is about so much more than the sad decline of Boeing and the tragic mistakes that led to the 737 Max disaster. It's also the urgent story of how the almighty profit motive supplanted a culture of engineering excellence in boardrooms across America and the avoidable calamity that has impacted all of us as a result. * Brad Stone, New York Times bestselling author of Amazon Unbound and The Everything Store * Peter Robison's Flying Blind is the astoundingly well reported and beautifully told story of the downfall of what was once a great American company. Robison, who got to know Boeing in the late 1990s as a beat reporter, watched as the proud engineering culture was decimated by those who cared first and foremost about making money. The details are unique, but what makes this book a must-read is that the story's theme has become all too common. * Bethany McLean, New York Times bestselling author of The Smartest Guys in the Room *