When I worked. for the Engineering division of an Airline in the late 70’s and early 80’s I regularly interacted with Boeing and McDonnell Douglas. I attended twice yearly ATA conferences with the manufacturers and my airline peers as well as had day to day contact with both companies.
The difference in attitudes between the companies was impossible to miss. Boeing was almost humble about its products and would listen thoughtfully and attentively to customer complaints and suggestions. Douglas, on the other hand, used to explain that “we built the DC3” and that their engineering was more sophisticated than Boeing and anyway, what did I know? - I was just a user.
This Douglas attitude seems to have been widespread and despite their allegedly superior engineering, they did not prosper. Boeing bought them.
I lost track of both manufacturers. I was out of the industry but I remember reading that Douglas management did a “reverse takeover” of Boeing management and, among other things, had shifted company headquarters from Seattle to St. Louis - Douglasses old HQ. I wondered at the time what happened to the old, humble, responsive and downright honest to God Boeing culture.
So we had the B787 program - aggressive, edgy technology that didn’t sound much like the old Boeing I had known.
And now this disaster. The Seattle Times has laid out what is allegedly a totally dishonest management failure of the 737 Max that, to me, sounds very Douglas DC 10-ish and not like the Boeing of old at all
I therefore have to ask; what else has the current Boeing management screwed up? My faith in their products is shaken to the core.
https://www.seattletimes.com/busines...ion-air-crash/