The effort was led by Carl Davis, Forkner’s former boss, who doubled down on a strategy to remove the union-represented pilots who had flown in the field with customers. The last seven were laid off in September. “The loss of this critical coordinating function between the Boeing employees who design and manufacture aircraft and the customer air crews who fly them is incalculable,” said Ray Goforth, executive director of the engineers’ union. “For customers and regulators, the face of Boeing will now be contractors masquerading as genuine Boeing pilots.”
