It is not necessarily as bad as it may seem. Boeing could have been reporting, and the FAA monitoring. It is a large discrepancy from the approved use, imo.
It is inconceivable that Boeing kept this to themselves, in hindsight.
Dispatch rate is a commercial consideration, but failure rate is regulatory, and seems to me to be not negotiable.
Does FAA have obligations to report? To whom? The Transportation Secretary, who just resigned? Ray LaHood? Both Boeing and Ray LaHood are from Chicago, Illinois. Boeing claims they are prevented from commenting, maybe the Transportation Secretary could comment? He had a statement after the grounding...
Nothing about safety could or should be construed as "proprietary". imo.
Last edited by Lyman; 30th Jan 2013 at 18:24.