Posted on 07/10/2024 5:09:12 AM PDT by MtnClimber
Let’s face it: Boeing has the government by the balls.
It is, after all, America’s only commercial aircraft manufacturer, with over 170,000 employees in Washington State, South Carolina, and Virginia, most of whom make middle-class to upper-middle-class wages. In dollar volume, it is the country’s largest exporter. And to top it off, Boeing is a critical defense contractor, with a space division that recently sent two astronauts to the International Space Station (though thanks to problems with Boeing’s spacecraft, it’s a little unclear when, exactly, those astronauts will return to earth).
Late Sunday night, faced with the possibility of a trial, Boeing agreed to a settlement offered by the Department of Justice, pleading guilty to a felony for the two 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019 that caused the death of 346 passengers and crew. The felony charge comes with a probationary period of three years and a fine of nearly $500 million. Boeing has also agreed to invest $455 million to bolster its safety and compliance programs and accept the oversight of an independent compliance monitor who will submit annual reports to the government. And board members will be required to meet with families of the victims.
The Justice Department will no doubt characterize the settlement as just punishment for a recidivist company. Don’t believe it. This is a company that murdered those 346 people as surely as if it had lined them up against a wall and shot them. There was no pilot error involved in those crashes, nor was it the result of some unlucky accident. Those planes crashed because Boeing had cut so many corners in rushing this new 737 model to the marketplace that a disaster was inevitable. As one engineer memorably put it in an email to a colleague: “This airplane was designed by clowns, who in turn are supervised by monkeys.”
What’s more, to a company the size of Boeing, with $78 billion in annual revenue, a half billion-dollar fine is pocket change. Back in 2021, Boeing accepted a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department that called for it to pay $2.5 billion, including a criminal fine, money for the victims’ families, and compensation to its airline customers. Even that amount wasn’t enough to cause Boeing to change its ways: in January 2024, a door blew out of a 737 Max in flight, proving that safety was still not a top priority on the factory floor. Thus began the latest round of investigations, recriminations, and Boeing’s promise, with this settlement, to do better.....
There, I fixed it. I saw it first hand when my company was teamed with them and I had an office at Boeing in California.
Go after the Board of Directors at the critical time periods—starting with Nikki Haley.
Her ignorance meant she was incapable of effective oversight.
EXACTLY!
EXACTLY!
things have gotten real quiet about boeing’s Starliner
Wasn’t Nikki Haley on the board until recently?
Until Executives and Board of Directors are held accountable, for the actions of their companies, they will continue to be out of control.
Think back to the 2008 Financial Crisis, how many Bank and other Wall Street Executives were punished, if I remember correctly, virtually none.
There is precedence to prosecuting executives, think back to the Junk Bond scandals of the 1980s, people like Ivan Boesky and Michael Milken actually went to prison.
Think back to the accounting scandals of Bush Jr. years, Ken Lay and many others were prosecuted and sent to jail.
Yes, until 2020.
As I understand things, which in the case is quite possibly wrong, the plane type is physically aerodynamically unstable and requires a very high level of pilot skill and training to fly if its automatic system goes out.
As I understand things, which in the case is quite possibly wrong, at least one US military plane type is physically aerodynamically unstable.
To prosecute would require a showing of criminal negligence, such as failing to inform the airlines and pilots of the need to acquire and deploy the necessary skill and training.
Start with Human Resources and see if you can get them to flip. I’m sure it was an HR problem, but I bet they were “under orders.”
DEI kills.
things have gotten real quiet about boeing’s Starliner<<<
NASA, Boeing Provide Next Update on Space Station Crew Flight Test
Leadership from NASA and Boeing will participate in a media briefing at 12:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday, July 10, to discuss the agency’s Crew Flight Test at the International Space Station.
Audio of the media teleconference will stream live on the agency’s website:
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-boeing-provide-next-update-on-space-station-crew-flight-test/
“factory floor”
Apparently it was not a factory fault.
“In a preliminary report released last month, the NTSB said the door plug in question was missing four key bolts — ones that help keep the door plug in place. Investigators believe the bolts were not re-installed while the plane received some repair work at Boeing’s factory in Washington state last year.”
https://www.npr.org/2024/03/09/1237204488/boeing-door-plug-alaska-airlines-investigation
Those who cry negligence need to be careful.
thanks. First I’ve heard about it in awhile. I sure hope those jackasses don’t try and send those people down in that pile of crap.
“2008 Financial Crisis”
“The nationwide housing expansion of the early 2000s was rooted in a combination of factors, including a prolonged period of low interest rates.
“By mid-2003, both long-term mortgage rates and the federal funds rate had declined to levels not seen in at least a generation.”
“One response to low interest rates was an acceleration in U.S. home price appreciation to double-digit rates for the first time since 1980. Another response was a series of mortgage market developments that dramatically weakened credit standards in mortgage lending. These market developments were associated with a glut of savings
held by global institutional investors seeking high-quality and high-yield assets.”
much more at:
https://www.fdic.gov/bank/historical/crisis/chap1.pdf
I think you are talking about the F-117 Nighthawk, A.K.A the Wobbly Goblin.
Boeing COULD simply denounce DEI and everything associated with it, and then DARE the government to come in and prosecute them for not obeying illegal orders (like quotas and drag queen events, for example). Basically Boeing would say “Ok, what are you going to do about, buy your planes from another company...look around, they don’t exist anymore”. Do it PUBLICLY and make the government sweat for once.
This all reminds me of United Airlines in the 1990s (I think), when they ‘diversified’ into all kinds of crap that had NOTHING AT ALL to do with flying planes (like buying hotel and rental car chains). They even changed their name to something like “Allegis”, LOL. Their airline service, of course, went to crap, and so did their bottom line.
...but then they got a new CEO and he jettisoned all that crap, changed their corporate name back to UAL, and literally APOLOGIZED to all of their airline customers, particularly their business customers. They recovered financially, but they still suck.
The executives should always face legal penalties before their corporation does. Otherwise, the executive might offer up shareholder money to money-hungry governments to try to save their own skins.
Boeing has pushed their wokeism and DEI programs through all levels of the company. It has even taken over many of the airline companies. I am not saying that direct negligent decisions of management or engineers are at fault. It is having teams put together because of skin color or sexual preference instead of capability to bring excellence to their assigned job. It is trying to force unreality on the employees and not expecting reality to come back to bite them.
In a Fighter, instability means high maneuverability. Stability is highly desired in Cargo, and personnel carriers. Something that remains stable, despite cross-winds is ideal. But, for a fighter, you need it to be able to "fall" on any axis, at any time for evasive maneuvers - so this instability is built in.
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