3 ms·

Boeing doing 500 test flights to rebuild trust

2 points by linsomniac 7y ago

ratsmack 7y ago
I'm sure it would have been a lot more cost effective to have done due diligence before the catastrophic failures that cost the lives of so many. I worked in the aircraft industry for 45 years and know Boeing well. With the Boeing culture up to the mid 90's, this would have never happened. But from the mid 90's to present, Boeing changed from an engineering company to a company run by accountants and analysts.
- ksaj 7y ago
  Hindsight is 20-million. As someone who works in infosec, I see way too many events that only occurred because of the lack of due diligence - or common sense, for that matter. Once upon a time, all major companies had "Disaster Recovery" plans (DRP). Those got replaced by Business Continuity/Resumption Plans (BCP) which is a nicer term for the same thing, but boiled down to expensive word naggling that forced you to rewrite the entire working framework from scratch because of new paradigms (a word we all learned to hate). Nowadays, almost none of my customers have anything even similar to a BCP or DRP, and they think I'm trying to "strike it rich" by suggesting it to them. And the ones who have minimal versions never test them. I'm always available (by the hour of course) when disaster does strike, I guess.
osivertsson 7y ago
Here is the actual interview referenced: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRLbWGpLaBc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRLbWGpLaBc
- osivertsson 7y ago
  Having worked briefly with software in the aircraft industry I'm terrified at what the Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg says. 1. Still not taking responsibility. Dennis: "deep sympathies for the families and loved ones that were affected by these two accidents". Affected? Accidents? This was not accidents but a deep systemic failure within Boeing. People have not been affected, hundreds of people are DEAD and even more lives ruined by losing daughters/sons/parents/... 2. Dennis: "Continue to focus on safety as a core value" which I interpret as "We were very happy to take shortcuts regarding safety previously to reach time and cost targets set by us in management, despite some of our most senior technical staff complaining. We just kept pushing ahead until we found less senior staff that would take on the tasks. The risk was so small and it was the easy way forward. Now we have a hard time to uncover all the shortcuts we have taken. It is hidden in small assumptions and missing analysis in our documentation and our organization does not reward making them visible". 3. Dennis: "Worked our way through the technical details of [the software updates to the MAX] and are in the final stages of preparing that software". Every time I hear words like "final stages..." regarding software projects from management I know something is rotten. Most of the times I hear this a project is in a state where something just has to work because time or money is up, while the real solution can only be found by first taking a step backwards, something that management will not allow. 4. Dennis: "it is important that we just get the airplane back up and flying". Speaks of a company culture that caused this problem to begin with...
  - ksaj 7y ago
    > safety as a core value If it was a core value, how might these events have unfolded differently? Would it have happened twice? Would they have kept the details secret from the pilots? Would it have happened at all? The "thoughts and prayers" feel-good wording used throughout is demonstrative of legal and moral blame shifting, and shows a lack of ownership of the issues that preempted any of this unfortunate result. For them, this is just a stock market issue, and they'll be fine once everyone forgets.

2 points by linsomniac 7y ago

I'm sure it would have been a lot more cost effective to have done due diligence before the catastrophic failures that cost the lives of so many. I worked in the aircraft industry for 45 years and know Boeing well. With the Boeing culture up to the mid 90's, this would have never happened. But from the mid 90's to present, Boeing changed from an engineering company to a company run by accountants and analysts.

ksaj 7y ago
Hindsight is 20-million. As someone who works in infosec, I see way too many events that only occurred because of the lack of due diligence - or common sense, for that matter. Once upon a time, all major companies had "Disaster Recovery" plans (DRP). Those got replaced by Business Continuity/Resumption Plans (BCP) which is a nicer term for the same thing, but boiled down to expensive word naggling that forced you to rewrite the entire working framework from scratch because of new paradigms (a word we all learned to hate). Nowadays, almost none of my customers have anything even similar to a BCP or DRP, and they think I'm trying to "strike it rich" by suggesting it to them. And the ones who have minimal versions never test them. I'm always available (by the hour of course) when disaster does strike, I guess.

osivertsson 7y ago

Here is the actual interview referenced: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRLbWGpLaBc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRLbWGpLaBc

osivertsson 7y ago
Having worked briefly with software in the aircraft industry I'm terrified at what the Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg says. 1. Still not taking responsibility. Dennis: "deep sympathies for the families and loved ones that were affected by these two accidents". Affected? Accidents? This was not accidents but a deep systemic failure within Boeing. People have not been affected, hundreds of people are DEAD and even more lives ruined by losing daughters/sons/parents/... 2. Dennis: "Continue to focus on safety as a core value" which I interpret as "We were very happy to take shortcuts regarding safety previously to reach time and cost targets set by us in management, despite some of our most senior technical staff complaining. We just kept pushing ahead until we found less senior staff that would take on the tasks. The risk was so small and it was the easy way forward. Now we have a hard time to uncover all the shortcuts we have taken. It is hidden in small assumptions and missing analysis in our documentation and our organization does not reward making them visible". 3. Dennis: "Worked our way through the technical details of [the software updates to the MAX] and are in the final stages of preparing that software". Every time I hear words like "final stages..." regarding software projects from management I know something is rotten. Most of the times I hear this a project is in a state where something just has to work because time or money is up, while the real solution can only be found by first taking a step backwards, something that management will not allow. 4. Dennis: "it is important that we just get the airplane back up and flying". Speaks of a company culture that caused this problem to begin with...
- ksaj 7y ago
  > safety as a core value If it was a core value, how might these events have unfolded differently? Would it have happened twice? Would they have kept the details secret from the pilots? Would it have happened at all? The "thoughts and prayers" feel-good wording used throughout is demonstrative of legal and moral blame shifting, and shows a lack of ownership of the issues that preempted any of this unfortunate result. For them, this is just a stock market issue, and they'll be fine once everyone forgets.