Originally Posted by
DieselOx
[FAA managers] conceded, not that there was a very minor increase in risk, but that it did not meet FAA guidelines for flight control protection. That's a strong statement, and hard for me to reconcile.
Exactly. As I said above, the key concern is that the FAA managers agreed with the engineers that the new engines and their placement didn't meet agency guidelines, but the managers nonetheless permitted Boeing to (self-)certify the design. That is what truly matters here, because it is evidence of inappropriate and dangerous regulatory capture. In this context, the degree of risk associated with the placement of the LEAP engines isn't relevant.