Free Republic

The flight that put the Boeing Company on course for disaster lifted off a few hours after sunrise. It was good flying weather—temperatures in the mid-40s with a slight breeze out of the southeast—but oddly, no one knew where the 737 jetliner was headed. The crew had prepared three flight plans: one to Denver. One to Dallas. And one to Chicago. In the plane’s trailing vortices was greater Seattle, where the company’s famed engineering culture had taken root; where the bulk of its 40,000-plus engineers lived and worked; indeed, where the jet itself had been assembled. But it was May...

Monday, he lost his job. Friday, he lost his wife. Ousted Boeing CEO Harry Stonecipher, booted for an extramarital affair with a colleague, could lose a lot more after his wife filed for divorce on Friday. Joan Stonecipher filed just days after headlines splashed details of the affair her husband had with Debra Peabody, a 48-year-old Boeing vice president. Citing "irreconcilable differences," Joan Stonecipher demands "a fair and reasonable sum" from her husband, whom she identifies as "well and able-bodied" and "of substantial income and wealth." She filed for divorce just a month after the couple had celebrated their 50th...