The MAX Was “Designed By Clowns Supervised by Monkeys”
FlyerTalk January 10, 2020
We regret the content of these communications and apologize to the F.A.A., Congress, our airline customers, and to the flying public for them.
-Boeing
Even after a year of embarrassments for Boeing that included a congressional roasting, these recently revealed internal communications, handed over to the Federal Aviation Administration as part of their investigation is perhaps one of the most inflammatory follow-ups to the MAX tragedies which, in two separate accidents–one in late 2018 and one in early 2019–killed 346 people.
Designed By Clowns Who Are Supervised By Monkeys
As part of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)’s investigation into the MAX tragedies at Boeing, the company was forced to turn over embarrassing (to put it lightly) communications— both emails and instant messages — that it sent to investigators on Thursday, January 9, 2020.
While these internal communications contain several callous remarks perhaps the most startling is the Boeing employee that called the 737 MAX an airplane “designed by clowns, who are in turn supervised by monkeys” in a comment on an e-mail sent back in 2017.
“I Still Haven’t Been Forgiven by God”
While the FAA has said that the internal communications raise no new safety concerns, they do seem to confirm that Boeing employees knew how unsafe the MAX was even before the tragic crashes.
Back in 2018, before the first crash, one employee asked a colleague, “Would you put your family on a Max simulator trained aircraft? I wouldn’t.” The colleague responded with one word: “No.”
One employee, presumably speaking about their interactions with the FAA, wrote: “I still haven’t been forgiven by God for the covering up I did last year.”
The FAA Is A Joke
The MAX has been grounded for 10 months since the accidents, and while there has been no official word yet on how these communications will impact the future of Boeing’s MAX plane, it will surely further complicate Boeing’s relationship with the FAA and, perhaps the public’s.
In one exchange from 2015, a Boeing employee compared the FAA officials listening to his presentation to “dogs watching TV.”
The communications also complicated Boeing’s relationship with several lawmakers. Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, said in an interview that he would push for new congressional hearings to question Boeing leadership about the “astonishing and appalling” messages.
It Was Cheaper
If there was any doubt that Boeing’s fatal decisions regarding the MAX were driven by cost, employee discussions about limited training for airline crews that were to fly the plan will go a long way in dispelling it.
Boeing promised to offer Southwest, for example, a discount of $1 million per plane if regulators only required computer-based training instead of the more expensive simulator training usually required.
In August 2016, a marketing employee, upon hearing that regulators approved computer-based training for pilots who had flown the MAX’s predecessor the 737 NB, said “You can be away from an NG for 30 years and still be able to jump into a MAX? LOVE IT!!
“This is a big part of the operating cost structure in our marketing decks.”
Disciplinary Action
In addition to offering apologies “to the F.A.A., Congress, our airline customers and to the flying public for them,” Boeing promised disciplinary and “other” personnel action “once the necessary reviews are completed.”
Boeing already fired its chief executive Dennis A. Muilenburg after the FAA publicly censured him for promising the MAX’s prompt return before they finished their investigation.
Currently, there is no set timetable for the MAX to return.
To read more on this story, go to the New York Times.
@Dougg Its a quote! Also in this context it says clowns and monkeys, which are part of a circus, which aptly describes the MAX situation.
Flyer talk should be ashamed using a racist headline. SHAME ON FLYER TALK FOR BEING RACIST! Using the word “monkeys” in this context makes one immediately think of another racist term beginning with the letter N. One would hope Flyer Talk would be sensitive about what’s happening in the world today and NOT use racial slurs in their headlines. Time for the editions to RESIGN NOW! As for Boeing and the FAA reminds me of the WWII story about malfunctioning torpedos. The captains of ships were giving reports of torpedos hitting there targets and not exploding or of torpedos which would circle back on the ship that fired. In at least on instance the submarine that launched the torpedo sank itself. The Navy blamed it on the captain and crews which were poorly trained for nearly 2 years. The Max sounds like a death trap just waiting to claim more lives. Boeing execs once again are valuing profits over human lives.
And now I’m getting called a Trumpist despite that no one has mentioned Trump until now. (And how does one derail the thread on the first post?) I give up. I absolutely agree with the previous poster that journalism is now thinly veiled activism, and only serves to reinforce everyone’s preconceived notions. (This goes for both sides - I’m actually more or less in the middle so I actually see both sides.) I will end with this though - I never absolved Boeing of responsibly for the issue. They absolutely should have documented this key difference vs. the 737NG, and built in redundancy. But the rhetoric I’ve been seeing in the media since the second crash, that this was somehow a conspiracy between Boeing and the FAA is ridiculous, and in light of that publicity for the last year, I wouldn’t be surprised if the grounding order is never lifted (especially outside the U.S.) even if the software is fixed. At this point it has all become politically motivated.
Questioning the paper's choice of headline is legit considering how journalism has turned into activism and headlines are click-bait generating metrics to gauge interest and performance... Which oddly enough that's why we read this worthless thread.
@strickerj: The story is real, the quotes are relevant. Hundreds of people died due to an issue that can be traced to conscious decisions made by Boeing employees during the design and certification process. You jumped the gun - it happens. It's really cool you apologized, but just leave it at that. For occasions like that it could be nice if the system allowed to delete one's own comments.