Kriti Mehrotra
Netflix’s ‘Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing’ picks up right from where ‘Downfall: The Case Against Boeing’ left off by continuing the expose into the once-iconic aviation giant. It not only incorporates additional insider accounts about the company’s transgressions but also uncovers startling new revelations in the wake of deepening crisis and fatal crashes. Among those to thus feature in this documentary is whistleblower Merle Meyers, who unwaveringly dedicated three decades to the business before stepping away for good in 2023.
Merle Meyers Was Once Proud of Being a Boeing Employee
As the son of aviation professionals and a native of Snohomish, Washington, Merle Meyers grew up surrounded by the industry before developing a genuine passion for it himself. The Monroe High School graduate thus worked hard to pursue further education in a related field, ultimately resulting in him securing a position at The Boeing Company in 1993. “Boeing changed my life,” he said in the film. “We were really poor growing up. The financial trajectory just totally changed… To have a job there, it was really a badge of honor.”
According to Merle, the company was once deemed the best airplane manufacturer in the world for good reason — it prioritized flyer safety and plane quality above all else. He candidly stated, “Boeing was very unique in that if there was ever a dispute, the Quality Department made the final decision as to whether or not to sign off on work.” He knew this firsthand because he served as a Supplier Quality Oversight personnel from 1996 to 2007 and then as a Quality Manager for all wide-body plane programs from 2008 onwards.
“Boeing was always known for the engineering and the building of their airplanes,” Merle said, so things changed from the moment they began “outsourcing major sections… to save money.” He claims the big shift came during the production of the 787 Dreamliner because not only were parts brought in from across the globe, but it was also all assembled in a new plant in Charleston, South Carolina. He didn’t mind the new space, but he was bothered by how the floor employees there didn’t seem to have any training in the field.
Merle Meyers Parted Ways With Boeing After Years of Alleged Pushback
Merle alleges that it was in 2015 when “alarm bells went off” for him, as he reportedly “uncovered that some corroded” parts were being used in the Dreamliner production line. He claims these included flight-critical components like “gear axles we had previously scrapped and spray-painted red with the word ‘scrap’… They were basically rotted.” He said in the documentary that this was such a red flag that he immediately looked into the matter in detail, only to allegedly find “scrap parts were put back on the airplanes for years and years.”
Merle’s next step was to speak with the higher-ups, explicitly voice his concerns, and do his best to stop further use of these quality-compromising/unauthorized parts, but to no avail. A corporate investigation was launched, yet his allegations were classified as “unsubstantiated.” He claims the more he tried to continue bringing up safety issues and follow up on his complaints, the more pushback he received. “Not one manager was fired or went to jail or got time off,” he said in the film. “It’s like it was just part of the business. I don’t know what it means for the thousands of planes flying around. At this point, it’s anyone’s guess.”
Merle even used the Speak Up forms Boeing had to “encourage” floor workers and quality employees to express their worries to managers, only for him to allegedly face retaliation. He indicated he had documentation to back his accusations, but the response he received in early 2023 was a written reprimand for creating “defective work product, service, or output.” He was given no additional details about what he’d done wrong, so he figured he was going to continue being reprimanded until he could be fired. Therefore, he claims that when he was offered a notable financial incentive to quit in March, he decided to take it.
Merle Meyers Has Been a Public Whistleblower Against Boeing Since 2024
Merle had no intention of going public with everything he had allegedly experienced and observed, but he changed his mind after his former co-worker, friend, and whistleblower, John Barnett, passed away in March 2024. He died by suicide while in the middle of depositions against Boeing, leaving behind a note explicitly naming his former employers, so Merle resolved to carry on his friend’s legacy and his work in whatever way he could. That’s when he contacted the New York Times, handed them a copy of his records from his time as a Quality Manager, and gave them explicit permission to use his name as a whistleblower.
Since then, Merle has continued to speak up against Boeing’s practices in the hopes of bringing about a real change and helping them go back to the safety/quality standards they once had. However, he claims things have only gotten worse since he left the organization, which he knows because he remains in touch with current employees. “The place leaks like a sieve,” he said during a Q&A following the premier of ‘Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing’ at the DC/DOX festival. At Boeing, he stated at one point, “you don’t speak up [about] unethical or bad behaviors… or you will be marginalized and released one way or another.”
Merle Meyers’ is Focused on Being a Dedicated Chaplain and a Loving Family Man
When Boeing management sees ‘Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing,’ former 30-year employee and Quality Manager Merle believes “They’re going to fall out of their chairs.” He also revealed that he was a third-generation Boeing employee, but there won’t be a fourth generation to follow in his footsteps. His kids and their cousins saw “years of struggling” under “bad management, unethical leadership,” he said, so they all chose different paths. Even the 67-year-old has since moved far away from the aviation industry — in fact, he is currently focused on working alongside his wife and spending quality time with family.
Merle has been working as a Trauma & Grief Support Chaplain since 2014 with the love of his life, his wife of 40+ years, Cindy Meyers, but he has recently taken on more responsibilities. Not only is the Everett, Washington, resident a Senior Community Chaplain at Grief and Trauma Chaplaincy and helps run its website, but he is also a Funeral Officiant/Memorial Celebrant at Merle Meyers Services and a Hospice Chaplain for Continuum Hospice. He and his loving wife also hold monthly training sessions/workshops for the fellow chaplains in their district to help maintain the quality of care people receive, no matter their social, economic, or political standing.
According to records, Merle is also a proud volunteer at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention as a Healing Conversations contact and at the Traumatic Grief Companioning Project as a Chaplain. Moreover, he reportedly does his best to provide sudden bereavement support in local communities whenever possible, all the while also traveling to places like Africa, Haiti, and South America to do the same. If he is not working, though, he loves to collect historical documents, read to broaden his horizons, or spend quality time with his wife, their 2 adult children, and their respective families — in total, he has 11 grandchildren, all of whom he loves to spoil.
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