Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Daniel P.'s avatar

Boeing has had a real tough go over the past few months (and really, the past few years), and it makes me sad because Boeing has such a large presence in the PNW. At one time it really was a great company. You can trace where it all went wrong though, and that was when the bean counters took charge from the engineers. Nothing has been the same since.

While there certainly have been some high profile incidents (the door plug over Beaverton being the craziest), it’s still much, much safer to fly in a Boeing jet than it is to drive to the airport.

Expand full comment
Scott Mainwaring's avatar

This is a much more positive story about Avelo than I’ve heard in the past, when it seemed they were better known for cutting service than expanding it. In terms of profitability, should this still be a concern for potential longevity of commercial air service in Salem?

As for 737 MAX safety improvements, I don’t think there are any (nor was improving safety an intent, which is now infamously apparent). MCAS is probably the most misunderstood aspect of this. Its sole purpose was world over)to satisfy the FAA that the MAX was just yet another 737 version that handled like all the rest (despite, if you turned off MCAS, the plane behaved differently from other 737s). Very important, because if 737 pilots would have to be retrained to fly the MAX (and there are a HUGE number of them as the 737 is the most popular airliner the world over), the whole economic justification of the program would be severely harmed. Tragically, Boeing bungled how MCAS was originally designed and documented, and over 200 passengers died in two crashes as a result before Boeing finally got it right. It’s what happens when you replace an engineering and safety focused company with one prioritizing profits and stock price over everything else. Unclear how or if Boeing will be able to salvage its reputation after its internal cultural rot is now so obvious.

Also, the MAX debacle illustrates how in aviation, old, well maintained and inspected planes can end up being more safe than flashy new ones. It’s not that Avelo is doing anything unusual to “fix up” old airplane lanes; they are just following well-established paths to take advantage of older airplane models.

Expand full comment
2 more comments...

No posts