Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

471–480 of 637 posts

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#471

Post by esoterica »

fooster wrote: post #200
doublement wrote: post #133

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?

Then pay for an exit row seat. If I want cheaper seats instead of more legroom, why should I be forced to subsidize YOUR consumer preferences?

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#472

Post by esoterica »

gilrain wrote: post #339
doublement wrote: post #133

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.

Congratulations on being able-bodied. I have arthritis and literally cannot fly anymore because I can't afford tickets with enough leg room to not be in crippling pain for the entire flight. I've had to miss important family events because of this.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch. If we forced airlines to provide more legroom they would charge everybody more, and you might not be able to afford the new tickets either.

Even if you personally could, some people that can currently fly would not be able to afford the higher prices. Why are your consumer preferences more important than theirs?

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#473

Post by mzs »

pizlonator wrote: post #215

So I read somewhere than Muilenburg was the only engineer in the Boeing C suite. There were no pilots in the C suite. And this was part of the problem. The new CEO has a degree in accounting. I bet he’ll do great.

I believe there are at least three, but:

>The decision to launch the MAX was taken by James McNerney, the company’s first boss without a background in aviation, with a résumé that included Procter & Gamble, McKinsey, General Electric and 3M. At GE McNerney was schooled under the hard-nosed bottom-line philosophy of Jack Welch.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-boeing-bean-counters-court...

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#474

Post by qwioeue »

softwaredoug wrote: post #188

Former Boeing employee here[1]: I remember when the company decided to do all 401k matching in Boeing stock in 2009. It seemed like a sketchy, borderline unethical way to keep the stock price afloat. All to say I’m happy to have transitioned all my 401k years ago! [1] I worked in the defense industry. Nothing to do with planes: my company was acquired by Boeing and operated relatively independently.

Boeing stock price today is 337.55. In Jan 2009, it was $42. That's a 8x return.

SP500 closed at 3221 today. In Jan 2009, it was about $890 and that is only a 3.6x return.

Hindsight is 20/20, but you might've been even happier if you kept all your 401k in Boeing.

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#475

Post by baq »

einpoklum wrote: post #466
yason wrote: post #459

The only credible way from here is to: - remove the hack that is MCAS for the purpose of being able to piggyback on the old 737 type certificate; - start the process of type-certifying 737-MAX as the individual design that it is without MCAS instead of trying to make it behave like the old 737 just to keep things on the cheap side; - and offer free type certification for existing 737 pilots to obtain their certificat…

Wait, Boeing were actually trying to do something _different_ than this?

They might just scrap the whole project.

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#477

Post by pytester »

ativzzz wrote: post #336
asperous wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a programmer who got an MBA, I can tell you that in my cohort there were absolutely extremely smart super stars who put the time into everything they do and have the talent to make good decisions and have the empathy to be good managers. There were also people who tried their best but their judgement was clearly lacking. My cohort has Civil Engineers, Materials engineers, Physicians, Finance, Accountants.. and als…

The current hacker news meme is that bad management of any kind is due to MBAs, where in reality a bad manager is a bad manager and an MBA has nothing to do with it.

MBA culture introduced us to the meme of "management is a generic function" meaning accountants with an MBA degree could manage engineers, software developers, doctors or teachers using the same tools (e.g. performance metrics).

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#478

Post by CydeWeys »

mikepurvis wrote: post #273
tw04 wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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_...

I wonder if they can put the NG engines on them and use them that way, or is the airframe itself different enough to not make that possible.

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#479

Post by CydeWeys »

ibejoeb wrote: post #203
CydeWeys wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I'm sure it's slightly more complicated, but is the MAX not essentially a 737 airframe with larger engines mounter further forward? Seems like there's a lot to work with there. A new type certification, at this point, sounds pretty good. Otherwise, there ought to be a lot of salvageable product there. I doubt that doing a new type cert is tantamount to engineering an entirely new airframe. I think the thing that make…

Even if you recertify it, it's still a shitty design. If you're gonna do a new type certification it may as well be a new better design, without the decades-long 737 legacy baggage.

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#480

Post by megablast »

geekamongus wrote: post #319
briffle wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is amazing, but if your Tall, or Wide, or have any kind of handicap, its miserable too..

Tall person here. Flights longer than 90 minutes really, really suck unless I've saved up enough miles to upgrade my seat something with more leg room.

I’m 6’4. I’ve flown journeys of adding up to 24 hours in 30 hours before. Never had a problem.
Post reply on HN