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While I agree that Oliver did a pretty good job skewering Boeing in the ~33 minutes allotted I'd argue that Peter Robinson does a better and more complete job i

While I agree that Oliver did a pretty good job skewering Boeing in the ~33 minutes allotted I'd argue that Peter Robinson does a better and more complete job in his 2021 book Flying Blind: The 737 MAX Tragedy and the Fall of Boeing.[0] What I find most sad about what Boeing has become is that it was so predictable. I worked as an outside contractor at various Boeing locations in Washington and Oregon installing, maintaining, and training on the operation of CNC milling machines in the mid '90s and early 2000s. I was there before and and in the early days of the merger with McDonnell Douglas. In those days the pervasive sentiment among the machinists, engineers, and managers, many of whom had spent two and three decades working for the company was that the merger was going to get people killed. Sadly, those predictions came true even if it took longer than some may have expected. [0] https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/646497/flying-blind-by-peter-robison/ https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/646497/flying-blind...

nocsi 3y ago
“Merger”… functionally it was more like a SPAC. Boeing buys McDonnel Douglas with shares with a bonus of letting them control the board. Boeing just announced their acquisition of spirit aerosystems, same company responsible for the fuselage mishaps. Somehow I doubt they’re buying them for any of their aerospace expertise, but rather to go in and burn all their records. The Boeing of old has been long gone since you were last there. It’s all run by MBAs now whose sole purpose is to minimize how much engineering can be done by the company. Expect more deaths in the future. They seem very content continuing to solve systemic engineering problems with only business strategy.
- xenadu02 3y ago
  Buying Spirit is just them bringing that work back in-house. They originally spun Spirit out so they could offload employees and let Spirit cut benefits and pay as well as replace some work with offshore cheap labor. This is just another repeat of the 787 outsourcing disaster which also ended with Boeing buying a bunch of their suppliers and bringing other work back in-house. Just more financial shell games to screw labor. I don't know about you but I'd prefer everyone building my airplane be highly paid with a management chain of former engineers. Not the cheapest labor a subcontractor can find managed by bean-counting accountants.

nocsi 3y ago

“Merger”… functionally it was more like a SPAC. Boeing buys McDonnel Douglas with shares with a bonus of letting them control the board. Boeing just announced their acquisition of spirit aerosystems, same company responsible for the fuselage mishaps. Somehow I doubt they’re buying them for any of their aerospace expertise, but rather to go in and burn all their records. The Boeing of old has been long gone since you were last there. It’s all run by MBAs now whose sole purpose is to minimize how much engineering can be done by the company. Expect more deaths in the future. They seem very content continuing to solve systemic engineering problems with only business strategy.

xenadu02 3y ago
Buying Spirit is just them bringing that work back in-house. They originally spun Spirit out so they could offload employees and let Spirit cut benefits and pay as well as replace some work with offshore cheap labor. This is just another repeat of the 787 outsourcing disaster which also ended with Boeing buying a bunch of their suppliers and bringing other work back in-house. Just more financial shell games to screw labor. I don't know about you but I'd prefer everyone building my airplane be highly paid with a management chain of former engineers. Not the cheapest labor a subcontractor can find managed by bean-counting accountants.