[wjcsux]

Boeing was a great company before they merged with McDonnell Douglas. The big joke with Boeing engineers is “McDonnell Douglas acquired us with our own money. “

[Rockingham]

All too true. In order to fend off Airbus, Boeing wanted to consolidate market control by merging with McDonnell-Douglas and becoming the sole big aircraft maker in the Americas. Details matter though, with the McDonnell-Douglas leading Boeing to turn from a focus on aviation engineering toward MBA style cost cutting and opaque accounting and political manipulations.

For years I have heard airline pilots and a pilot union negotiator I know complain about Boeing's decline in quality and how Airbus makes better aircraft. My casual impression as an occasional air traveler is the same. I recall one pilot saying that he would retire rather than have to pilot one of Boeing's carbon fiber hulled aircraft. He predicted that quality control issues would lead to windows and doors blowing out.