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Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

reuters.com

31–40 of 637 posts

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#31
post #11

Why isn't it enough to retrofit all past and future models with enough hardware redundancy and create a properly written MCAS software? Wasn't the design sound, except for the lack of hardware sensor redundancy and naively written software? Why do they need to stop production and so on?

Even if they somehow managed to make the MAX safe no person in their right mind's going to want to get onboard it. Muilenburg certainly didn't help the situation either with all his talk of pilot error at the beginning.

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#32
post #11

Why isn't it enough to retrofit all past and future models with enough hardware redundancy and create a properly written MCAS software? Wasn't the design sound, except for the lack of hardware sensor redundancy and naively written software? Why do they need to stop production and so on?

Because these changes are going to require a new type certification, which defeats the entire point of just making a better 737 in the first place. It will no longer be nearly as appealing to airlines. They might actually be better off just axing the MAX entirely and continuing to produce the 737 NG, and then work on a clean sheet 737 replacement that doesn't suffer from all the compromises inherent in the MAX.

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#33
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would guess it's the following: https://investors.boeing.com/investors/investor-news/press-r... "The Board of Directors decided that a change in leadership was necessary to restore confidence in the Company moving forward as it works to repair relationships with regulators, customers, and all other stakeholders. " is quite brutal indeed, more something I'd expect from commentary.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic, or if this is actually "brutal" in this context (a context I have no experience with)?

Given that the normal standard is that 'x' has decided to spend more time with his family and is given a very nice golden parachute (pun definitely not intended nor applicable) this is indeed quite brutal. That doesn't rule out he will get lots of money for severance but it isn't going to come with a smile and a handshake.

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#34

The big question for Boeing is how they will transition to a post-737 world. Until now, Boeing's business plan is that they will be building a starship for NASA in 2060, but you will still be stuck with a 737 on Southwest Airlines, a A320 on Jetblue, and never know that aviation could be better. The 737 throws off a lot of cash, but the single-aisle monoculture makes flying miserable. A 737 replacement will be expens…

There's no way they're going to develop a completely new plane. It may have new branding, but it's going to be a 737 at the bones. Since when has the airline industry ever considered passenger misery?

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#35
post #11

Why isn't it enough to retrofit all past and future models with enough hardware redundancy and create a properly written MCAS software? Wasn't the design sound, except for the lack of hardware sensor redundancy and naively written software? Why do they need to stop production and so on?

The issue is not that this plane kills people— although it is shocking that this plane does kill people.

The issue is that a culture of self-interested mismanagement from factory floors up to our highest political offices has led the global economy to depend on the success of this plane which kills people.

Even if somehow by chance they manage to make this plane kill fewer people in the future, there will be no reason to think the actual problem has been addressed.

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#36
post #4

After both The Economist[1] and The New York Times [2] publicly undermined faith in Dennis Muilenberg. No question at this point that he needed to be replaced. The question is - why didn't the board act sooner? [1] https://www.economist.com/leaders/2019/12/18/boeings-misplac... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/22/business/boeing-dennis-mu...

The Times article was the last straw, you know the board members all read that. Plus the space launch failure.

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#37

The story of the ouster to inevitably be followed by the story of the massive compensation package he'll receive.

They already rewarded him after the first crash, not to say they won’t again. > On December 17th, less than two months after the Lion Air crash, Boeing’s board of directors approved a twenty-per-cent increase in the company dividend and a twenty-billion-dollar stock-repurchase program, allowing Muilenburg, who had replaced McNerney as C.E.O. in 2015, to carry out even larger buybacks than in previous years. The board…

Hush money, right?

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#38
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would guess it's the following: https://investors.boeing.com/investors/investor-news/press-r... "The Board of Directors decided that a change in leadership was necessary to restore confidence in the Company moving forward as it works to repair relationships with regulators, customers, and all other stakeholders. " is quite brutal indeed, more something I'd expect from commentary.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic, or if this is actually "brutal" in this context (a context I have no experience with)?

Such press releases are usually much more subdued, with the ousted CEO absolutely not replaced by the board but "voluntarily deciding to quit in order to spend more time with his family".

It's pretty rare that the press release explicitely says the board ousted the CEO.

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#40
post #9

November 2019 New Yorker piece about what went wrong at Boeing https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/11/18/the-case-again... tl;dr engineers vs. accountants

BS! Which of these was done by the accountants? 1. Drive MCAS with only one AOA sensor. 2. Don't tell MCAS to look for (or even think about) bad AOA data or AOA disagreements. 3. Don't actually bother to tell pilots that they don't have AOA disagree warning lights. 4. Don't bother to tell pilots that MCAS exists at all. 5. Don't test MCAS subsystem to see what it actually does with bad AOA data. 6. Give MCAS a ridicu…

4 and 7 were the raison d'être for MCAS in the first place. Clearly above engineer level.
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