The functional structure of the ODA used by Boing is going to get some air time in court I would wager, to ascertain how the repurposing of a system came about and was permitted to get to the point it did of latent risk. The indictment would suggest that the grand jury at least considers that the pilot had an obligation to report to the FAA his discovery in the sim of an issue, however, I would suspect that the mail servers will have considerable communications with those involved in the system from the indicted party. If the pilot kept that information. to himself, then it is curious that he was indicted.... If some info was passed to random bystanders that results with sufficient evidence for a grand jury to contemplate wire fraud (emails etc... ) then it seems extraordinary that the same info was not provided to those on the relevant teams of the design approval team signing off the PSCP steps and statements of compliance.
I would think the trial will result in some major expansion of parties needing legal representation.
If that is not the case, then an insanity defence would appear reasonable, as it appears rationality has decided to leave the region north of Mexico and south of Canada in recent years.
The OEMs management has an extensive history of issues with ethics, and none of the Max story appears to suggest that this once-proud icon of engineering excellence has any intention of acting ethically. The pilot's actions were not in a vacuum, they were within the culture that pervades the OEM and which has resisted calls for it's change. The pilot did not design the system, change the system or fail to determine the consequences of that undisclosed change, He recognized the issue in a simulator, and then acted as he did, within the culture of the system that is the responsibility of the corporate management. The board has known for 1/4 century that the culture they created was rotten and that consequences that impacted engineering performance and product quality resulted from their inaction.
The US federal court will act it's way to find a culprit, and the corporation will be unscathed, as this is the way things are in a free market, unfettered by responsibility or ethics to the decision-makers.
SWA eventually will need to come to terms with their 1-type policy; which has already had variations through their takeovers of other fleets. The 737 growth capacity is limited and the fuselage went past being an optimal configuration last century. Time to do a greenfield design and one without corporate involvement in engineering decisions.
P.S.: SAFETY:
Walk around Renton or Everett, and you find hard hats, ear defenders, eyewash stations, fire extinguishers, and the usual plethora of posters extolling the virtues of OH&S compliance. There are no posters indicating that the actions of the corporate leaders impact the process safety of the company and the safety of their product. There is an utter disconnect between the financially driven component of our western models of industry and the desire to comply with a product standard, and the management gets a free pass, the schmuck at the end of the line making monthly mortgage payments gets to take the hit for the cynical corporate management. Boeing is tarred with the same brush as BP is, as are most of our major institutions. Deepwater, Texas City, B737 Max, B737 ring frames, B767 tanker contract version 1. etc.
Last edited by Pilot DAR; 11th Dec 2021 at 14:16.
Reason: typo