Grado de dificultad: 3 (Por el idioma)

Columnista: Roberto

This post is our third about the Boeing 737 Max crisis.

Formers were:

Please review them to understand our viewpoint over it.

Update on the Boeing 737 Max controversy

On September 23, the Washington Post published two new articles about this crisis.

“FAA misled Congress on inspector training for Boeing 737 Max, investigators say” and

“European pilots say FAA, Boeing moving too fast toward lifting Boeing 737 Max ban”

The first article is an indictment of the FAA.

It basically confirms the control of Boeing over their own planes’ certifications.

It excludes any indulgence toward this administration on the reauthorization of the infamously known aircraft.

To make thing even clearer, the second one reports the opinion of non-US pilots on the matter.

They dismiss both Boeing and FAA as lacking credibility in their assessment of the corrections.

The suspicion is expressed as follows (extract):

“How can a design and regulatory setup that originally failed by approving a flawed aeroplane’s entry into service credibly provide the solution without significant reform?”

The game

The Boeing tactics

Chess players call this an “endgame” situation. It’s the moment when you can tell that checkmate is a few moves further.

In one of our former posts (Boeing se miente a sí mismo y a nosotros), we expressed our doubts about a smooth solution.

Boeing’s tactic was to play a “calm down” scenario, in which they were totally in control of the corrections of their mess the anomalies.

Additionally, since many clients were waiting for the planes they bought, it was, of course, mandatory to continue their production (in the Boeing Renton factory).

The idea was to put pressure on the community:

“Everybody needs these planes, and here they are, only waiting for the reauthorization”.

“Now, we all need this authorization for next month to let these incidents in the past”

The phrases are alleged, but describe the attitude as we feel it.

What are Boeing concerns

Rexon Production Unit

They pretend they want to save their Renton production factory (the one that manufactures the 737 Max, and that hires 10000 workers).

Within the United States, this a real concern, knowing that an election is approaching, but not before the end or 2020.

Will they continue to store produced aircrafts until then?

The impact of such failure would undermine the message of the current federal administration.

FAA fight for credibility

Both Washington Post articles show how damaged is the credibility of the federal agency. It is clear now that they cannot rush things anymore.

They simply can’t because they are investigated.

And would they be willing to, the international organizations wouldn’t follow them.

Itwill take long to regain this confidence.

The central problema

This was not the worst part. Specialists say that the design of the plane was wrong from its start.

It seems unlikely that Boeing will be able to physically modify its design in a simple way.

The modification, if any, will require a completely new test process (several years).

And this is probably why Boeing chose the strategy “go forward”: they had no other option.

But it looks now that Boeing is reaching a dead end.

Checkmate in coming

The very argument Boeing is playing is one that they can’t win.

No one out of the United States is willing to help them. The behavior of the US administration, in international matters, made that option impossible.

Every exits are now sealed.

This could very much mean the fall of Boeing Aircraft Division, but not only.