Boeing Engineers Lost Control of the Company
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Re: Boeing Engineers Lost Control of the Company
#2> Why did Boeing buy McDonnell-Douglas? Because the airplane manufacturing industry is consolidating, and Boeing is pursuing profit at the expense of human lives.
Was it really necessary to add the second part to explain why the merger occured? 'industry is consolidating' seems reason enough. The mixing of explanation with moralism in every sentence is grating. Put the moralism and ethics in it's own paragraph so we can understand the explanation first. If it's all mixed up, then I have to evaluate every claim in the article as if it might be ethical statements by the author instead of focusing on understanding first, and then considering the ethical outcome after having attained the understanding.
Re: Boeing Engineers Lost Control of the Company
#3Has anyone considered that the MCAS bug was just simply nasty and difficult to detect in their simulator?
It’s easy to look back with retrospect and make sweeping judgements about the entire company and the FAA.
But fundamentally this was all over, as the author mentions, a single software bug and a lack of backup sensors to offset the risk.
In addition it was the technical pilots who asked for the stick to be harder than it was, which added to the difficulty in that unique situation.
The MAX was otherwise a very safe plane was it not?
There will always be limits to how effective regulatory oversight can be.
Re: Boeing Engineers Lost Control of the Company
#4> Why did Boeing buy McDonnell-Douglas? Because the airplane manufacturing industry is consolidating, and Boeing is pursuing profit at the expense of human lives. Was it really necessary to add the second part to explain why the merger occured? 'industry is consolidating' seems reason enough. The mixing of explanation with moralism in every sentence is grating. Put the moralism and ethics in it's own paragraph so we…
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Re: Boeing Engineers Lost Control of the Company
#5Has anyone considered that the MCAS bug was just simply nasty and difficult to detect in their simulator? It’s easy to look back with retrospect and make sweeping judgements about the entire company and the FAA. But fundamentally this was all over, as the author mentions, a single software bug and a lack of backup sensors to offset the risk. In addition it was the technical pilots who asked for the stick to be harder…
It was simply bad systems engineering. Using software to compensate for hardware like that is like coding "subtract one" when two plus two yields five.
In software this hack is explicit, so perhaps Boeing engineers can be forgiven for not seeing it when it straddles hardware and software.
Re: Boeing Engineers Lost Control of the Company
#6> Why did Boeing buy McDonnell-Douglas? Because the airplane manufacturing industry is consolidating, and Boeing is pursuing profit at the expense of human lives. Was it really necessary to add the second part to explain why the merger occured? 'industry is consolidating' seems reason enough. The mixing of explanation with moralism in every sentence is grating. Put the moralism and ethics in it's own paragraph so we…
It’s a hyperbolic statement. Boeing employees and engineers also fly on those planes with their families. It isn’t like they are making decisions with the intent of compromising safety.
Re: Boeing Engineers Lost Control of the Company
#7Has anyone considered that the MCAS bug was just simply nasty and difficult to detect in their simulator? It’s easy to look back with retrospect and make sweeping judgements about the entire company and the FAA. But fundamentally this was all over, as the author mentions, a single software bug and a lack of backup sensors to offset the risk. In addition it was the technical pilots who asked for the stick to be harder…
The bug is a symptom of bad architecture. Bad architecture is an outcome of taming loud engineers in sake of short term business outcomes.
Re: Boeing Engineers Lost Control of the Company
#8Silly corporations, pursuing profit instead of the good of everyone. Why would we expect any corporation to cut corners to improve profits, which is definitely not what private for-profit corporations are explicitly organized to accomplish? What a weird thing that nobody could have predicted.
Really tickles my nose.
Makes me want to sneeze actually.
aaaa
AAAA
AAAAAACHSEIZETHEMEANSOFPRODUCTION
that was a weird one, sorry. I'm gonna go get a tissue.
Re: Boeing Engineers Lost Control of the Company
#9While I appreciate the amount of effort the author put into writing this, Matt Stoller’s analysis of the Boeing situation remains the best I’ve found so far: https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/the-coming-boeing-bailout
Re: Boeing Engineers Lost Control of the Company
#10> Why did Boeing buy McDonnell-Douglas? Because the airplane manufacturing industry is consolidating, and Boeing is pursuing profit at the expense of human lives. Was it really necessary to add the second part to explain why the merger occured? 'industry is consolidating' seems reason enough. The mixing of explanation with moralism in every sentence is grating. Put the moralism and ethics in it's own paragraph so we…
It’s a hyperbolic statement. Boeing employees and engineers also fly on those planes with their families. It isn’t like they are making decisions with the intent of compromising safety.
Boeing executive decision makers don't. They never fly commercial, they have private jets.