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Comment by danols | Hacker News Reader

The day someone very high up the corporate ladder truly gets held responsible for this type of greed & negligence and will be put a way for a long prison sentence would be a good day for society. But I am not holding my breath...

But I hope that the CEO Dennis Muilenburg deep down understands he seriously fuxxed up real bad and every now and then is having a hard time falling a sleep in his $10M mansion knowing that he is ultimately responsible for hundreds of peoples unnecessary deaths due to his failed values as a leader.

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I agree. I think the FAA failed in it's mission also.

Their credibility outside the US is shattered. Their word & opinion caries zero weight anymore since they have proven themselves to be morally corrupt.

They have outsourced certification (their job!) to the manufacturer (Boeing) since the 787. My confidence in that plane thus isn’t sky high either.

it’s reputation has been destroyed in the international aviation community.

which is extremely sad because it was really hard won.

classic story of gutting a gov organization, and regulatory capture.

i know some really good people at faa and the situ makes their blood boil. mine too.

I haven't seen commentary from international pilots who are worried about flying Boeing planes.

Even with the two MAX planes that went down, fatal crashes are enormously rare (for Airbus/Boeing/CRJs/ERJs). This one is only getting so much attention because it was that extraordinarily rare "design defect" rather than a maintenance issue or pilot issue.

Now better?

> https://www.thedailybeast.com/pilots-complained-to-feds-abou...

More specifically, the complaints reportedly referenced issues pertaining to a takeoff “autopilot system” and situations where the plane is “nose-down” while trying to gain altitude. One pilot reportedly wrote that it was “unconscionable” that Boeing and federal authorities allowed pilots to fly the planes without fully describing how the 737 Max 8 was different than other planes. “The fact that this airplane requires such jury-rigging to fly is a red flag,” the same pilot wrote.

His response to the question of "should you step down?" was "no, absolutely not, people's lives depend on me leading this company." No one is that important, and 346 people died unnecessarily on his watch from negligent business processes. He should be forced out.

Your comment makes it sound like you believe there was a single person with nefarious intentions or criminal negligence who chose to put lives at stake in exchange for profits.

That is almost certainly not what happened. It is more likely a system of procedures and policies which failed. The company should take the hit, but unless an investigation reveals otherwise, I see no reason a single individual should take the blame for all of this.

> That is almost certainly not what happened. It is more likely a system of procedures and policies which failed. The company should take the hit, but unless an investigation reveals otherwise, I see no reason a single individual should take the blame for all of this.

Aren't the insane compensations of executives justified by their "great responsibility"? So I think it makes them eventually responsible for what their companies do.

I heard someone say this and I can't remember who, but it seems very appropriate. One of the key responsibilities of the CEO (and by extension upper management) is to acknowledge reality. When the company is given permission to act on what it already knows, then employees have the right incentives to do the right things and not just the things that won't get them fired.

In that sense, it absolutely is the fault of Boeing management for not acknowledging reality.

I for one miss the concept of full responsibility and ownership. What happened to “the buck stops here”?

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