To be fair to Calhoun, he took over a company in deep distress following two fatal 737 Max crashes that landed the crucial plane in a nearly two-year-long grounding and put the company in a yearslong crisis. And the plane maker's problems didn't start there: The 1997 merger with McDonnell Douglas is widely cited as Boeing's poisoned chalice. It was after the merger that the bean-counter executives began taking over, gutting the joint, and putting accountants into roles once held by engineers. Maximizing profit took precedence over quality. In the short term, margins improved. But in the long term, Boeing lost the plot. Executives at Boeing, starting in the mid-aughts, "identified an industry with tons of cash flow, high barriers to entry and only two players," Aboulafia said, referring to Boeing's European rival, Airbus. "It's a recipe for getting away with bad things."