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> But McDonnell Douglas never wavered from its belief that human error was the only cause of cargo door failures, [...] even attempted initially to pin the Turk
by quanto 3y ago
> But McDonnell Douglas never wavered from its belief that human error was the only cause of cargo door failures, [...] even attempted initially to pin the Turkish airlines disaster on the “illiterate” baggage handler Mohammed Mahmoudi, who hadn’t even deviated from proper procedure (Mahmoudi also pointed out that he was in fact literate in three languages, thank you very much!).
The only comic relief in this somber yet riveting exposition. More importantly, it shows MD's desperate desire to externalize the blame. I just see the same too often in engineering firms and, even more unfortunately, in life.
- AniseAbyss 3y agoIt's just racism and colonial thought. The same happened when that Boeing 737 Max in Ethiopia crashed.
- HL33tibCe7 3y agoIn that incident there was also a great deal of people not caring/paying attention because it happened to people who "aren't like us".
- Ichthypresbyter 3y agoAnd the author slightly joins on on that with his off-the-cuff characterization of the two 737 Max 8 crashes (at Lion Air and Ethiopian) as >two preventable crashes at unready airlines in developing countries Ethiopian is a large and by all accounts modern and well-run airline which has been operating jets since the early 1960s, and performs maintenance for other airlines. While it was originally set up as essentially a branch of TWA with American staff, it hasn't relied on foreign staff since the 70s. It's been an early adopter of new Boeing aircraft since the early 80s (with the 767) and was the first airline outside Japan to fly the 787 commercially.