Originally Posted by
Ranger One
The last nail in the coffin of that old saw appears to be an aircraft that was designed by Boeing, marketed by Boeing, and built by no-one in particular...
Very good.
Actually the 787 is, at least conceptually, marketed by McDonnell Douglas. The rot set in when Boeing CEO Phil Condit (lifelong Boeing guy, worked up through engineering, programme management and sales; PPL since he was a teenager - an all-round aviation pro) got replaced by Harry S, with a Corporate America background, Sundstrand, McDonnell Douglas, etc. At Mac's he presided over their demise, including sales falling off a cliff, until what was left got sold to Boeing. Then he manages to get in charge at Boeing, and starts to change them to McDD ways. Apparently part of his reign was a clearout of what were seen as the Condit style supporters (ie those who understood what they were doing), the move to outsourcing, the downplaying of in-house engineering skills, etc. This was all at the time the 787 programme was getting going. Although he later moved on himself, the style of the team for the future, including the marketing-knows-all way, was set.