Originally Posted by
groundbum
I think we're debating a single pilot here as capitalism has a reputation for pushing dodgy stuff out the door to get a quick $$$. Especially in a safety related industry such as Aerospace there is only one safeguard that really really works when the system is putting out unsafe product - a low level employee that sees the danger and is willing to speak out. To my mind that is a lot of responsibility to put on one persons shoulder, a person who has a pension, mortgage, career, car loans, young family etc. And especially in a regulated system such as Aerospace it is negligent to operate in this way, Factory production lines have big red stop buttons that stop the whole line, why not something upstairs in the design and engineering offices when there is truly a unsafe situation developing. There must be loads of engineers and safety people at B that knew MCAS was a disaster in the making, I'm interested in why there wasn't some whistle-blowing hotline where these concerns could be brought up to an independent safety person.
G
There were lots of big red buttons already, FAA delegated engineers. A word in the ear of any of them shoulda stopped the train. If there is a safety issue, and the FAA engineer documents it, he doesn’t need to provide a source, after all it’s his job to find unresolved issues. Except the FAA guy himself would have lost his career by holding up a « too big to delay » project. The whole system is rotten.
It will be very interesting to watch the Europeans and the Chinese pile on the safety checks for a plane the FAA held,of grounding as long as they could.
Edmund