The more things change . . .
....not out in front on this (OldnGrounded, re: Boeing crisis response overall)
To start, Grebe's harsh realism about "open door" assurances being buzzwords with little if any practical value rings true. Having practiced primarily management-side employment law for a lot of years, I have seen an increase in a strange combination of a superiority mindset, coupled with a demand for hierarchical passivity by subordinates, as a senior management trait. And in organizational cultures as a whole, as well.
As for the surrealistic uncovering of pieces of the reality of .... well, the several parts of how this happened, the need to match Airbus fast, the need to work out a deal with the Southwest pilots, the need to just add another layer onto the already large stack of amendments to the original certification, the need to focus on production output numbers, and the need to weather the storm after the first deadly crash - this has been like going to the theater for a one-act play with three scenes in the playbill but then there's a fourth, fifth.....I've lost count. (And for the record, by "need" I'm referring only to Boeing managerial attitude.) (And that list no doubt left parts off...ODA, for example. Or the stinking mess lingering around tbe tanker from which our villain, MCAS, hails.)
Matching the theatrics of the revelations is the - to be blunt here - pathetic dodges by the CEO. Maybe he's got a great acting coach. It's only going to rain harder now, no matter how sunshiny his portrayals. By the way, did anybody also happen to notice in the hearing room today the preeminent, revered trial attorney, Robert Clifford? There was almost an element of the tiger calmly, serenely sizing up the about-to-be-devoured. (Other than also practicing law in the Chicago area, I'm not affiliated with or otherwise connected to Mr. Clifford and I'm only offering my own observations here, and not purporting to speak for or on behalf of his firm or otherwise.)
As a teen (16) I traveled on a United 737 to Columbus OH from Chicago in June 1968. The type was barely a year old. It's sad, kind of unspeakably sad, to witness the venerable old workhorse saddled with these disasters. It's almost as if the airplane itself is trying to tell us something....
I know airplanes don't talk; don't send in the men with the nets and white coats.
From IMDb, on the film, No Highway in the Sky:
"Theodore Honey (James Stewart) is a mathematician charged with discovering what caused the crash of a "Reindeer" airliner. As he travels to investigate, he realizes en route that he's flying on the very same type of airplane. Convinced it will suffer a similar accident, he deliberately sabotages it once it lands, and soon finds himself defending his sanity in an English courtroom. Fortunately, a sympathetic actress (Marlene Dietrich) and a stewardess (Glynis Johns) come to his defense."
In the hangar, a Reindeer parked, as its tail falls off crashing onto the hangar floor, Honey realizes what he missed in his calculations.
Ladies and gentlemen, the 737 MAX crisis did not result from just a single calculation error.