Live data from Hacker News

Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

reuters.com

271–280 of 637 posts

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I expect to be able to sit in my seat without having my knees crushed? How about that for a start?

One option is to not fly american airlines (with a lower case a). The highest rated US airline is 3 out of 5 stars on Skytrax. As far as I understand, the reason for this is that foreign airlines are not allowed to fly US domestic routes, and most US people don't fly international which means they don't know that things could be better. It also seems like people in the US to a greater extent than other countries only…

> most people in the US only cares about ticket price, which means that even if an airline wants to improve their quality they can't use it to compete

With regards to quality, do airlines in other places generally provide more bang for the buck or are they just generally more expensive than US flights to provide for the higher quality?

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 reaso…

Does the global economy really need passenger planes? Tourism economies, sure, but I would guess most of the economy is dependent on trains, trucks and ships?

Yes, meetings still happen face to face for business to get done. Giving up air travel, is not a reasonable option for the world at large.

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#273
post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does that mean for all the Max units currently out there and grounded, though? Obviously there's going to be a huge and drawn-out lawsuit over this, but it seems like at the end of the day, the airlines involved will still end up having to train their pilots on those planes in order to get them back in the air, and at that point, they might as well have a bunch more of them anyway. And if they're doing the new-p…

I would assume a buyback as part of the write-down. I'm not sure any airline wants to be one of the handful of "lucky" ones that have the only MAX's in the air. Sounds like a great way to lose customers.

What a nightmare. Will the 387 delivered planes* be retrofitted somehow, or are they really just scrap at this point? Is there precedent for a recall of this magnitude in commercial aerospace?

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Boeing_737_MAX_orders_...

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Starliner mission was a test. You wouldn't have 100% confidence that a test would be executed flawlessly. The purpose of the test is to find flaws in the system, and that's exactly what they did.

Reminds me of the news coverage of SpaceX’s first landing attempts, where they crashed into the barge and exploded and everyone was like “it’s a failure, it will never work”. Yeah but so much went right. I think it’s just the (well deserved) media narrative Boeing is in now. When you kill hundreds of people and then pretend it wasn’t your fault, you get what’s coming to you.

That negative messaging was driven by ULA in a desperate bid to close the door on their new competitor. If they could kill off enough contracts, SpaceX might have run out of runway before they established their business model.

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you pay me tens of millions of dollars to leave, you’re welcome to frown and talk crap about me all you like as you do it.

Are you an IC? It’s different for us... we are measured by our ability to get a job done. Management doesn’t get anything “done”. Their job is to faithfully represent the interests of the managers above them. Maintaining good terms with their superiors is their only actual job. Everything else can be going to shit and as long as their superior feels they are faithfully representing their will, then that lower level m…

I’m in management (ex-IC, though).

Prior Boeing CEO’s severance package seemed like ~$12M plus over $3M/yr for life. With that level of severance, I don’t need a good recommendation for my next job as there won’t be one...

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#277
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...

For the same reason the board of GE let the company spiral into near-bankruptcy before changing the CEO. The board and the CEO are part of the same clique, with one supporting another. They will only oust the CEO if they feel it is needed for their own survival.

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#278
post #260

Most business in the United States is done despite of management, not because of it. The executives lie and BS through all of it, and the soldiers on the ground kill themselves to get things done.

Unfortunately this is much too true.

Compliance controls are a sham. Auditing is garbage. Corporate America is made up of executives who unirononically fail to execute on anything.

The few places that do execute are: startups (nobody trusts you or your product, you have to go the extra mile) and a few corporations with strong culture.

It’s impossible for eg regulations to guarantee that corporations will follow the intent and not just check boxes. So most don’t and indeed just check boxes.

The solution is pretty easy: bring back anti trust laws. Break up the old boys’ clubs; monopolies are driving the country to the ground.

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I expect to be able to sit in my seat without having my knees crushed? How about that for a start?

Then you could purchase a different fare class. The market has largely spoken already- people prefer lower fares over comfortable seats.

Ah, yes, it is definitely reasonable to draw that conclusion based on people's disinclination to spend 100% the fare for a 10% larger, somewhat less uncomfortable seat, and/or 1000% the fare for 50% more space and an actually comfortable seat.

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ...single-aisle monoculture makes flying miserable. What is it that people expect when they say flying is miserable? I expect safety, which is why I'll never get on a 737 MAX. Other than that, I just put sandwiches and snacks in my pocket, fill my water bottle, and in X hours I'm thousands of miles away. Air travel is actually pretty amazing.

I expect to be able to sit in my seat without having my knees crushed? How about that for a start?

book an emergency exit seat for extra $50 or something
Post reply on HN