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Washington, DC — Thursday was Kelly Ortberg’s first day on the job, trading in his years-old visitor’s pass for a permanent blue card as the 13th CEO of The Boeing Company. The sprawling aviation empire he built over 108 years and will now lead is in dire straits.

The magnitude of the challenges ahead can hardly be overstated. Boeing’s deep internal distrust and poor safety culture were laid bare after two grueling days of hearings by the National Transportation Safety Board on the Jan. 5 accident aboard Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, setting off a chain of events that led to Ortberg’s appointment nine days ago.

Related Topics: Live Updates: NTSB Alaska 1282 Investigation Hearing

“He’s got a lot of work ahead of him. A lot of work,” said NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy, who oversaw extensive testimony and questioning this week. Homendy wants to sit down with Ortberg “to talk about some of my concerns” about Boeing’s safety culture and the Federal Aviation Administration’s oversight of the plane maker.

After two days of testimony, the exact cause of the four missing bolts on Alaska 1282 is still unclear, but the safety regulator’s investigation points in a consistent direction. “This is about the safety culture in the factory and at Boeing itself. The safety culture still needs a lot of work. It’s not there,” Homendy said. “From the evidence itself and from the interviews, it’s clear that there is not a lot of trust. There is a lot of distrust within the workforce and towards management, which plays a role.”

That’s at least in part why Ortberg’s new assignment began the day after the hearing concluded. Where the NTSB’s 20-hour hearings end, Ortberg’s work now begins – including the immediate need to reach a permanent detente with Boeing’s largest union in the face of a looming work stoppage.