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Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

reuters.com

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Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#351

Post by masklinn »

temac wrote: post #347
mpweiher wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> First of all, smaller planes such as the A320 I was going to go all "what do you mean, smaller ??? ... surely you mean the A220", but had to good sense to look it up and you are right, the A320 Neo is actually a tad smaller than, for example, the 737-800. Also lighter. Just carries more passengers a longer distance faster with slightly wider seats. Hmm..

The A320 family actually includes the A319 (smaller) and the A321 (bigger), and the A321 (or A321neo) is quite similar to the 737 you selected: 737-800. Even the 320 is only slightly smaller than the 800; and it is quite bigger than the 700.

The 320neo is the most suitable comparison to the 737-800 given they respectively top out at 195 and 189 passengers.

The 321neo carries up to 240, even the 737-900 ER is left behind (220), though the 321 is longer than the -900 by quite a bit 44.5m to 42).

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#352

Post by madengr »

remarkEon wrote: post #334
solatic wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Tylenol crisis is basically the case study for how to handle a corporate crisis. If you get an MBA without having come across it, you should ask for your money back. > Why can't today's leaders think a little bigger, and optimize for the long term even if that has an immediate cost? I'm not sure it's so simple. At the head of the Boeing bureaucracy, Dennis Muilenberg likely was being fed a diet of wrong and horri…

>Dennis Muilenberg likely was being fed a diet of wrong and horrible information from lower executives keen on deflecting blame so that they could keep their jobs. Your job as CEO, or any leader of a large organization civilian or military, is to ferret out when you're being fed loads of BS. It's frustrating because Muilenberg was a engineer and started there as an intern in the 80s, so he at least should have some d…

Plenty of engineering graduates can’t engineer, and go into management after a couple of years. Likely he fell into that category.

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#353

Post by petilon »

na85 wrote: post #305
petilon wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that was all that's needed 737 Max's would all be back in the air by now. There is a fundamental problem in the design. The plane tends to pitch up when accelerating. Under certain circumstances this can cause the plane to stall and fall out of the sky. This was fixed using software. Most planes have airframes that are aerodynamically stable in and of itself. The 737 Max requires software assistance to be at the s…

>The plane tends to pitch up when accelerating. They all do this. You have giant engines on the underside of the wing; what else would you expect to happen when you throttle up at low airspeed?

And yet only the 737 Max needed a software fix

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#354

Post by cyberferret »

I just transited Alice Springs airport on my way to Melbourne yesterday. I noticed that the new 'boneyard' in the desert next to the airport had a bunch of brand new Singaporean SilkAir 737-MAX8's parked there in 'mothball' condition [0].

One of my first thoughts was: "Who is paying for that?" - the transport cost and decommissioning of those aircraft, the loss of revenue, the leasing of alternative aircraft to replace them, etc.? Short answer is that I am pretty sure SilkAir will be suing Boeing for all costs, as would most other operators of the 737-MAX. I don't see Boeing's commercial aircraft division surviving something like this.

[0] - https://twitter.com/dsabar/status/1208901556097044480

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#355

Post by linuxftw »

chrisseaton wrote: post #161
linuxftw wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An engineering background is the bare-minimum requirement, not all engineers are equal capable (or capable at all).

> An engineering background is the bare-minimum requirement But why? Is their problem an engineering one? Or a culture, leadership and values ones? Everyone's saying that they put profit before safety. That's a financial decision that they need to address not an engineering one!

You have to be an engineer to understand safety. We're talking about world-leading aerospace engineering, not producing some SaaS product. You need someone that understand the technology involved better than anyone else in the industry.

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#357

Post by papito »

clon wrote: post #341
pm90 wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 i…

David Calhoun is the replacement - head of Blackstone private equity. An accountant running an engineering company, what could possibly go wrong. You can assume that stock price will take the front seat now, if it already had not. The bean counters have yet to internalise the fact that it is am engineering culture failure, stemming from the toxic MacDac merger. This is a further signal that things are going downhill…

Yes, I expect a lot of "financial engineering".

"Boeing’s 737 Max Was an Epic Error. So Why’s the Company’s Stock Still Going Up?" http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/12/after-boeings-737-max...

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#358

Post by [deleted] »

hooloovoo_zoo wrote: post #282
philwelch wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The NYT didn’t have to be right, they only had to sell newspapers and clicks. The burden of evidence for publishing a hit piece is much lower than that for making an actual business decision. I’m no fan of Boeing but the truth is, betting your entire business requires a much higher burden of proof than journalism does.

"The NYT didn’t have to be right, they only had to sell newspapers and clicks." This is totally wrong. The New York Times depends on its reputation for accuracy.

[deleted]

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#359

Post by dv_dt »

clon wrote: post #350
dv_dt wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dennis M was an engineer, but the McNeirney the previous CEO was the first non-engineer and very much a MBA type. I figure Dennis is stepping down for not being able to fix problems that came up under the previous CEO fast enough or completely enough.

He did come across as a basically decent person. He was not ousted for being unable to undo the MBA damage. He was let go for being unable to jedi mind fuck the plane back into the air. This, as far as his employers are concerned, is the measure of his failing.

Putting another accountant in charge is likely going to make for more risks taken at Boeing that don't directly show up in an accountable form on financial spreadsheets. Sounds mundane, but a mathmatician/economist/businessman/politician who can drive quantitative risk accounting forms into operating and SEC reported balance and cashflow reports might save our economy and society. Hasn't happend so far though.

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#360

Post by jamiek88 »

lujim wrote: post #205
petilon wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that was all that's needed 737 Max's would all be back in the air by now. There is a fundamental problem in the design. The plane tends to pitch up when accelerating. Under certain circumstances this can cause the plane to stall and fall out of the sky. This was fixed using software. Most planes have airframes that are aerodynamically stable in and of itself. The 737 Max requires software assistance to be at the s…

I agree with you, but would like one counterpoint. There are plenty of planes that are aerodynamically unstable and require fly by wire/computers for satisfactory flight characteristics. Fighters like relaxed aerodynamic roll stability for roll rate. Now pitch stability issues are troubling. I don't think engineers would purposely relax pitch stability unless they had to. I guess I'm saying you might want an airplane…

>There are plenty of planes that are aerodynamically unstable and require fly by wire/computers for satisfactory flight characteristics.

Not passenger aircraft. Only military.

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