Submitted 9 months ago by L4s@lemmy.world [bot] to technology@lemmy.world
Boeing withdraws bid for safety exemption for Boeing 737 MAX 7::Boeing confirmed late on Monday it is withdrawing a request it made to the Federal Aviation Administration last year seeking an exemption from a safety standard for its 737 MAX 7 that is awaiting certification.
At this point, Boeing should not be given the benefit of the doubt unless and until they are able to restore confidence in their QC processes and safety-first culture in general.
More to the point: the bean counters running the company need to be replaced with engineers who know what it is this company is doing and what they build. It’s not an overnight fix, but so long as the C-suite is trying to go “lean and mean” every 5-10 years, this will happen again and cost lives.
McDD really did an unbelievable amount of damage to Boeing. It’s an incredibly sad byproduct of the saga of deregulation and regulatory capture, alongside the massive downscaling of antitrust litigation and legislation.
Dennis Muilenburg, the CEO during the 737 Max crashes, was an engineer by training:
He received a bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from Iowa State University, followed by a master’s degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the University of Washington.
And, of course, even though he put profits ahead of safety and is therefore partially responsible for hundreds of deaths, he walked away with a $62.2 million golden parachute. The incentives are not aligned with safety, aside from how it affects their share price.
TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 9 months ago
The fact that an aeroplane manufacturer can request exceptions for safety standards seems weird to me.
Is there a good reason for this?
evatronic@lemm.ee 9 months ago
They’re apparently for things that are already heavily tested in prior models and haven’t changed.
Like the cockpit door is the same in a bunch of planes, or something, no need to test it in every plane model, etc.
TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Fair enough, that sounds very reasonable.
Although the exemption Boeing was after certainly doesn’t:
Yikes
abhibeckert@lemmy.world 9 months ago
There’s nothing wrong with requesting an exemption. It’s only a problem if the exemption is granted when it shouldn’t be.