We've come a long way though and I'd still rather take my chances with today's engineering discipline and regulatory practices than say, a saber toothed tiger.

We've come a long way though and I'd still rather take my chances with today's engineering discipline and regulatory practices than say, a saber toothed tiger. I think these sorts of missteps always have and always will occur, and yet in the grand scheme of things, we build remarkably safe systems. If you look at any man-made disaster, you're almost always going to find the same sorts of things that led to the Boeing rudder issue. I'm sure you're familiar with the Citicorp Tower story: http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2014/04/17/the_citicorp_tower_design_flaw_that_could_have_wiped_out_the_skyscraper.html http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2014/04/17/the_citicorp_t... https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Professionalism/William_LeMessurier_and_the_CitiCorp_Building https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Professionalism/William_LeMess...