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Capt. Sully Sullenberger on the FAA and Boeing: Our credibility as aviation leaders is being damaged
Market Watch ^ | Mar 20, 2019 | Chesley Sullenberger

Posted on 05/05/2019 3:54:55 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege

For most of the history of powered flight, the United States has been a world leader in aviation.

But now, our credibility as leaders in aviation is being damaged. Boeing and the FAA have been found wanting in this ugly saga that began years ago but has come home to roost with two terrible fatal crashes, with no survivors, in less than five months, on a new airplane type, the Boeing 737 Max 8, something that is unprecedented in modern aviation history.

For too many years, the FAA has not been provided budgets sufficient to ensure appropriate oversight of a rapidly growing global aviation industry. Staffing has not been adequate for FAA employees to oversee much of the critically important work of validating and approving aircraft certification. Instead, much of the work has been outsourced by designating aircraft manufacturer employees to do the work on behalf of the FAA. This, of course, has created inherent conflicts of interest, when employees working for the company whose products must be certified to meet safety standards are the ones doing much of the work of certifying them. There simply are not nearly enough FAA employees to do this important work in-house.

To make matters worse, there is too cozy a relationship between the industry and the regulators. And in too many cases, FAA employees who rightly called for stricter compliance with safety standards and more rigorous design choices have been overruled by FAA management, often under corporate or political pressure.

Let me be clear, without effective leadership and support from political leaders in the administration, the FAA does not have sufficient independence to be able to do its job, which is to keep air travelers and crews safe. Oversight must mean accountability, or it means nothing.

(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: 737; 737max; boeing; faa; flight
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Capt. “Sully” Sullenberger is a safety expert, author and speaker on leadership and culture. He is also a retired airline pilot who, on Jan. 15, 2009, safely landed US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River in New York when both engines lost power after they were struck by a flock of birds. All 155 people on board survived.
1 posted on 05/05/2019 3:54:55 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
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To: All

He’s a Never Trump ‘rat.


2 posted on 05/05/2019 3:58:29 PM PDT by JonPreston ( The GOPe is on board with the North American Union and the European Union.)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

So is this a call for more government funding?


3 posted on 05/05/2019 3:58:43 PM PDT by frogjerk (We are conservatives. Not libertarians, not "fiscal conservatives", not moderates)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

Air travel is too cheap. Double the fares.


4 posted on 05/05/2019 4:01:01 PM PDT by coaster123 (Men: Standard American handshake. Women: Curtsy.)
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To: frogjerk

This is really a case where both the FAA and the Boeing Co have forgotten the part of their mission to strictly adhere to safety in the design, maintenance, training, and regulation of air travel.

It may take a different approach as far as Boeing is concerned, and it may even involve more funding for the FAA. I am not involved enough to know it manpower is part of the issue, it seems that Sully believes it is management, I would look at that first.


5 posted on 05/05/2019 4:04:28 PM PDT by KC_for_Freedom (retired aerospace engineer and CSP who also taught)
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To: JonPreston

Yep. A pilot who was in the left seat at the right time as God smiled down on that airplane and all souls aboard.


6 posted on 05/05/2019 4:20:26 PM PDT by VietVet876
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To: JonPreston

Who cares——he is right on this one.


7 posted on 05/05/2019 4:24:13 PM PDT by Mears
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

Throw NASA in the pot, and you’ve got a trifecta.


8 posted on 05/05/2019 4:32:25 PM PDT by kaehurowing
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To: JonPreston

This has nothing to do with Trump and he’s absolutely right.


9 posted on 05/05/2019 4:33:59 PM PDT by HamiltonJay
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

the plane he floated was an airbus.


10 posted on 05/05/2019 4:44:06 PM PDT by JohnBrowdie
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

It’s pretty much Boeing fault.

The management needs to get of of the Pork Belly Trading Pit markets of Chicago and get back to designing and building airplanes.


11 posted on 05/05/2019 4:45:08 PM PDT by Paladin2
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

It’s pretty much Boeing fault.

The management needs to get out of the Pork Belly Trading Pit markets of Chicago and get back to designing and building airplanes.


12 posted on 05/05/2019 4:45:34 PM PDT by Paladin2
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To: JohnBrowdie

The Geese were probably Canadian.

It was the wormy eyebrows guy’s fault....


13 posted on 05/05/2019 4:46:37 PM PDT by Paladin2
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To: coaster123

Ok, I will bite.

Why?

That wouldn’t have changed Boeing and the FAA from signing off on a bad design.


14 posted on 05/05/2019 4:48:19 PM PDT by redgolum
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

That’s right... as I understand it... he wants the size of the FAA be increased. More regulation, don’t ya know.

Not... better products.


15 posted on 05/05/2019 4:48:45 PM PDT by vannrox (The Preamble to the Bill of Rights - without it, our Bill of Rights is meaningless!)
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To: JonPreston

“...with two terrible fatal crashes, with no survivors, in less than five months, on a new airplane type, the Boeing 737 Max 8, something that is unprecedented in modern aviation history.,,,”

Bull shit. The Comet, Electra, 727 etc all had horrible beginnings. It’s just these companies trying to get their crap out on the market before their competitors and never mind thorough testing.


16 posted on 05/05/2019 4:49:23 PM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: Bonemaker

Never, ever trust a ‘rat


17 posted on 05/05/2019 4:52:21 PM PDT by JonPreston ( The GOPe is on board with the North American Union and the European Union.)
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To: Paladin2

“It’s pretty much Boeing fault.”

A company that’s management is so profoundly defective that it moved it’s HQ to Chicago I wouldn’t trust with ANYTHING!


18 posted on 05/05/2019 4:54:14 PM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: onedoug

Ping


19 posted on 05/05/2019 4:56:02 PM PDT by windcliff
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To: Bonemaker

Don’t forget the DC-10. Cargo doors kept blowing out, which would collapse the aft cabin floor and compromise the control cables to the #2 engine and empennage.

CC


20 posted on 05/05/2019 4:57:10 PM PDT by Celtic Conservative (My cats are more amusing than 200 channels worth of TV)
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