3 ms·

I’m not sure I trust a startup to make life safety equipment either. Startups by definition have to do whatever they can to cut costs and get as minimal of a mi

I’m not sure I trust a startup to make life safety equipment either. Startups by definition have to do whatever they can to cut costs and get as minimal of a minimally viable product as they can, and often, that leads them to releasing shitty versions of the product and patching it later. That’s fine when it’s a mobile game, but when it’s airplanes that carry hundreds of people across the ocean... I’m not sure I have a solution here, other than saying something like “just fix Boeing” but whatever company is making commercial airplanes, I want them backed by governments and large corporations, not VC money.

baddox 7y ago
> but whatever company is making commercial airplanes, I want them backed by governments and large corporations, not VC money. I’m not sure if the incentives or expected results really change all that much. Certainly there are plenty of large wealthy governments and large corporations that don’t have a great track record with safety in large engineering/manufacturing endeavors.
xiphias2 7y ago
The minimum viable product for a passenger plane startup is a newly FAA certified one, which is already a higher quality standard than how Boeing 737 MAX plane was certified. Also I bet that the EU certification won't be easy in the next 10 years. At the same time the number of whistleblowers increasing is great for keeping Boeing in check.
riffraff 7y ago
maybe we don't need someone who never built a plane, as much as allow some of those that already do to scale up? Bombardier, COMAC/UAC, Mitsubishi, or some of those that make very small planes like Textron etc. The problem seems to me that aircraft companies are treated as national assets, and no country wants to allow, and obviously not encourage, challengers to their champion.

3 ms·

I’m not sure I trust a startup to make life safety equipment either. Startups by definition have to do whatever they can to cut costs and get as minimal of a mi

by LadyCailin 7y ago

baddox 7y ago
> but whatever company is making commercial airplanes, I want them backed by governments and large corporations, not VC money. I’m not sure if the incentives or expected results really change all that much. Certainly there are plenty of large wealthy governments and large corporations that don’t have a great track record with safety in large engineering/manufacturing endeavors.
xiphias2 7y ago
The minimum viable product for a passenger plane startup is a newly FAA certified one, which is already a higher quality standard than how Boeing 737 MAX plane was certified. Also I bet that the EU certification won't be easy in the next 10 years. At the same time the number of whistleblowers increasing is great for keeping Boeing in check.
riffraff 7y ago
maybe we don't need someone who never built a plane, as much as allow some of those that already do to scale up? Bombardier, COMAC/UAC, Mitsubishi, or some of those that make very small planes like Textron etc. The problem seems to me that aircraft companies are treated as national assets, and no country wants to allow, and obviously not encourage, challengers to their champion.