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It's fair to recognize this is not entirely Boeing's fault either: it was the airline industries that don't want to re-train their pilots and wanted this type o

It's fair to recognize this is not entirely Boeing's fault either: it was the airline industries that don't want to re-train their pilots and wanted this type of plane (American Airlines was specifically keen on getting Boeing to manufacture this plane [1]), so they were kind of told "we want you to make exactly $this, otherwise we switch to Airbus". [1] https://www.vox.com/2019/4/5/18296646/boeing-737-max-mcas-software-update https://www.vox.com/2019/4/5/18296646/boeing-737-max-mcas-so...

jdsully 8y ago
From AA’s point of view they were passing on working and proven airplanes from Airbus for something not even on the drawing board yet. For them to agree to this Boeing had to offer them an amazing deal. I don’t blame AA for taking a good offer. They did not force Boeing to do this.
alexis_fr 8y ago
> “We want you to make exactly $this, otherwise we switch to Airbus” Airbus sold 98 A320Neo to American Airlines, totalling 413 Airbus (the biggest fleet in the world).
salawat 8y ago
Given. However, in Engineering, it is totally expected that when you start getting into areas that sketchy, you say "No. The best I can do is this. I'm sorry." Instead, Boeing saw dollar signs, and threw caution and people's lives, and years of good will to the winds.
- ilaksh 8y ago
  The people making the decisions weren't engineers. They were managers. And they just passed the buck to the engineers who actually had to go along with it to keep their jobs. And I know people will try yo claim that it was the engineers fault and they should have just refused and gotten fired. But engineers have mortgages and have to work for a living. They can't afford to career suicide just because their boss is being unreasonable. The people who made the decisions should be held accountable. That means the CEO should actually go to prison.
  - dredds 8y ago
    There's also a lot more understanding of the corporate and political culture against whistleblowers, so even engineers or managers with good morals would not risk the backlash of endless lawsuits or corporate shaming. We should add this to the list of contributing factors given that a few whistleblowers have only come forward after-the-fact.

jdsully 8y ago

From AA’s point of view they were passing on working and proven airplanes from Airbus for something not even on the drawing board yet. For them to agree to this Boeing had to offer them an amazing deal. I don’t blame AA for taking a good offer. They did not force Boeing to do this.

alexis_fr 8y ago

> “We want you to make exactly $this, otherwise we switch to Airbus” Airbus sold 98 A320Neo to American Airlines, totalling 413 Airbus (the biggest fleet in the world).

salawat 8y ago

Given. However, in Engineering, it is totally expected that when you start getting into areas that sketchy, you say "No. The best I can do is this. I'm sorry." Instead, Boeing saw dollar signs, and threw caution and people's lives, and years of good will to the winds.

ilaksh 8y ago
The people making the decisions weren't engineers. They were managers. And they just passed the buck to the engineers who actually had to go along with it to keep their jobs. And I know people will try yo claim that it was the engineers fault and they should have just refused and gotten fired. But engineers have mortgages and have to work for a living. They can't afford to career suicide just because their boss is being unreasonable. The people who made the decisions should be held accountable. That means the CEO should actually go to prison.
- dredds 8y ago
  There's also a lot more understanding of the corporate and political culture against whistleblowers, so even engineers or managers with good morals would not risk the backlash of endless lawsuits or corporate shaming. We should add this to the list of contributing factors given that a few whistleblowers have only come forward after-the-fact.