Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/02/22/boeing-fires-the-head-of-its-737-max-program.html
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Scapegoat located!
Nobody in the executive suite at Boeing had anything to do with it. It’s all Ed’s fault. Wasn’t following a single order, nosir.
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Maybe he just wasn’t fastened properly and flew off the organization under load?
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… at the cockpit window of a 737, as part of its new rigorous safety testing
(See the chicken gun)
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He definitely wasn’t following a corporate strategy of cutting costs to maximise “shareholder value”.
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For those corporate cynics among us (including moi) the appointment of a woman (Katie Ringgold) in his place bodes ill that they may be planning on shutting down (or selling?) the whole program. Traditional high level corporate misogyny not wanting a doomed interest under the leadership of a man -sigh-
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The tragedy of this whole situation is that if Boeing had just said to airlines that pilots would need some additional training to transition to the MAX from the NG there would have been no need for the MCAS software. The MAX is perfectly stable in flight without MCAS - just slightly different when pitching up.
Overall, it’s not as good as the A320neo - but what is?
But their management were intent on making it a seamless transition, even though there was essentially no chance that big operators of the 737 like SouthWest and Ryanair would switch away from Boeing.
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None of that has anything to do with missing fasteners and door panels coming off mid flight.
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Maybe. Ed was hired after that incident with high expectations from shareholders. The pressure from that probably led to a rush to get planes out ASAP and quality suffered as a result. I believe Boeing has a backlog of some 6000 commercial aircraft.
By the end of last month, Boeing’s backlog (total unfilled orders before ASC 606 adjustment) was 6,189 aircraft (Boeing’s backlog record of 6,216 aircraft was set in December 2023), of which 4,775, or 77 percent, were 737 NG/MAX narrowbody jets. - FlightPlan
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This is the equivalent of scraping mold off the surface of your cheddar and declaring the problem solved. Yeah, you’ve changed the optics, but the problem remains below the surface.
Boeing seems to have a deeply-rooted cultural problem that has made safety and engineering take a back seat to time-to-market and profit. The MAX debacle is perfect, tragic illustration. From Forbes:
Bonus: Boeing realized that it could be helpful to have an indicator that informed the pilots when the two angle of attack sensors disagreed, which would be a strong clue that MCAS needed to be disabled. But it was sold as part of an upgrade package.
And while we’re cutting out mold, the cozy relationship between the FAA and Boeing needs to end. The FAA has allowed the fox to watch the henhouse, and there are a few hundred indications that self-regulation isn’t the best approach.
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He’s been in charge of the 737 Max since 2021. The incident I’m referring to happened last month.
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Boeing is puckered 24/7 right now, hoping one of their planes doesn’t fall out of the sky. Bird strike, missing rivet, terrorist bombing… doesn’t matter. If a Boeing plane goes down the company as we know it today will be forever changed. Board of directors will be toast, shareholders will loose their shirts… airlines parking their fleets… gonna be really ugly. The Pinto of the skies.
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Make him fly around the world a few times in the jet.
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What was his job title, Director of Malicious Compliance?
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This is one of many reasons the merger with McDonnell Douglas should have never happened. Boeing has all but monopolized civilian & military aircraft manufacturing in the US.
I am surprised they didn’t find a POC to fire so they could blame “DEI” initiatives or some stupid bigoted crap like that.
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Its never the best approach. It means no regulation. As seen with independent auditors and Arthur Andersen and securities ratings and mortgage backed securities.
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i believe one of their contracts required no extra training, or it will cost ‘em.
The liability meat shield is gone! Surely, the planes will be build competently now and forever.
As much as I like Southwest Airlines, I have to lay a lot of blame at their door. Their fleet is exclusively 737s and, as I understand it, they pressured Boeing to make the 737 Max not require pilot retraining.
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