Former Boeing 737 Max Chief Technical Pilot Indicted for Fraud

Post by ethbr0 » Fri, Oct 15, 2021, 11:00 AM UTC

lazide wrote: post #173

Waterluvian wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you’re deeply misunderstanding the purpose of the FAA and the magnitude of the problem here. Like almost every other agency (the FDA didn’t do the vaccine trials; are they incompetent too?) they don’t do the tests. They just police the industry. Theoretically if you set laws and regulations and dole out severe punishment for bad behaviour, you don’t need to be the one running the tests. People should want the…

So if the FDA is unable to find someone who can understand or can’t interpret/understand the studies themselves enough to see flaws or likely fake data, they should just take the companies word for it that it’s all good? Last I remember this being a topic of discussion, the stance was ‘trust but verify’ no? While it may be efficient to rubber stamp things, it is not doing their job. Folks scam all the time, especiall…

Post by ethbr0 » Fri, Oct 15, 2021, 11:04 AM UTC

lazide wrote: post #171

aerospace_guy wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And aerospace engineers are dirt cheap Inaccurate, please stop sharing misinformation. Seeing this on HN is unfortunate.

Do you have any data to share? Most of my family has been involved in Aerospace, with my dad working for skunkworks, my brother working for Garmin (and a formal aerospace engineer). Most aerospace engineers are lucky to break 75k/yr to start with little to no equity, and often need to move to the middle of nowhere (compared to say NYC, SF, LA, etc for software), and get hit with periodic catastrophic layoffs with the…

Post by antihero » Fri, Oct 15, 2021, 11:30 AM UTC

kqr wrote: post #172

f6v wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like, how many new major passenger planes do they have to test every year? 0.1 on average?

Let's say it is 0.1 on average, and the FAA would need 5 years just to test. That gives you an expected wait time of 10 years to get something tested, and 20 years if you include development time. I'm sure the industry benefits from lower turnaround times than that.

Post by LatteLazy » Fri, Oct 15, 2021, 11:36 AM UTC

smnrchrds wrote: post #120

user_7832 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you talk about the FAA doing thier own testing and validation is (unfortunately) almost impossible. Back in the 90s, a senior FAA official (I think a Director) had said something along the lines of “The FAA does not and cannot check everything, we just see that companies are doing their tests.” The FAA would require several times more manpower to be able to actually audit or test everything, and that is assuming…

I don't think this style of regulation is limited to FAA. FDA does not independently test all drugs either. They just review and ensure the drug companies' tests are acceptable.

Post by asah » Fri, Oct 15, 2021, 11:53 AM UTC

asah wrote: post #205

KennyBlanken wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment boils down to a false dilemma fallacy between "FAA blindly trusts manufacturers" and "FAA conducts their own testing and validation." Clearly they could have been more actively reviewing stuff coming from Boeing, or engaging in some level of auditing. If the FAA had paid attention they would have seen a company desperate to compete modifying numerous basic characteristics of an airplane to the point of m…

Actually, this is a sauce effect of the complexity of modern systems: regulators have no choice but to trust companies and regulate the results of tests, with heavy penalties for cheating. Consider pharmaceutical trials: it's impractical for the FDA to check on each patient. Financial audits often assume the client isn't directly lying to the auditor, with criminal penalties as the disincentive. The alternative requi…