Boeing was a great company. For many years it defined the aviation industry by designing and building the best aircraft possible. The company thrived in large part because its culture was informed by an engineering ethos. Even their top executives had an aviation engineering background.
Then disaster struck. The government—in its omniscience—decided that Boeing should merge with McDonald Douglas and pressured Boeing to do so. The result was that the company was captured by suits with no engineering background or knowledge. That resulted, among other things, in a CEO who thought it made sense to hire and fire engineers according to short term needs.
The results have been aircraft crashes and door plugs blowing out in flight. We’re beginning to see the wages of these mishaps. People—not just the usual paranoids, but knowledgeable folks with aviation experience—are refusing to fly on the Boeing 737 Max. Take a look at this article that discusses the refusal of Ed Pierson, a man with military aviation experience and a ten year career at Boeing, to fly on the 737 Max. When he discovered, despite his explicit instructions to the contrary, that he was on a 737 Max, he demanded to get off the plane even though the hatch had been closed.
When informed travelers like Pierson refuse to fly on a particular aircraft, others are sure to follow and that is already happening as the article reports.
But that’s not all. NPR is reporting that Boeing is withholding key details about the recent door plug incident. NPR says that the NTSB has become increasing frustrated with its inability to get needed data from Boeing.
None of this bodes well for Boeing. If travelers refuse to fly on their aircraft, airlines will refuse to buy them. Perhaps it’s time to reconsider having the bean counters in charge.