Before Deadly Crashes, Boeing Pushed for Law That Undercut Oversight

[Disir]

With a few short paragraphs tucked into 463 pages of legislation last year, Boeing scored one of its biggest lobbying wins: a law that undercuts the government’s role in approving the design of new airplanes.

For years, the government had been handing over more responsibility to manufacturers as a way to reduce bureaucracy. But those paragraphs cemented the industry’s power, allowing manufacturers to challenge regulators over safety disputes and making it difficult for the government to usurp companies’ authority.

...In the aftermath, lawmakers have seized on flaws in a regulatory system that cedes control to industry — an issue that is likely to put Boeing on the defensive this week when the company’s chief executive, Dennis A. Muilenburg, testifies before Congress for the first time since the two crashes.

The F.A.A. never fully analyzed the automated system known as MCAS, while Boeing played down its risks. Late in the plane’s development, Boeing made the system more aggressive, changes that were not submitted in a safety assessment to the agency.
Before Deadly Crashes, Boeing Pushed for Law That Undercut Oversight

This is a lengthy article but worth reviewing. Lots of bipartisan shenanigans. I think that people need to step back and rethink how to keep this crap from happening again.

 

[Manonthestreet]

Was just discovered second plane had an unreported incident unrelated to MCAS system just prior to the crash that was not addressed that contributed to the crash.

 

[Manonthestreet]

Pilots are expected to read their plane’s maintenance log before each flight and the captain has to decide whether the plane is safe. The instrument problems from prior flights had been noted in the Lion Air jet’s logbook, according to the November crash report by Indonesian investigators.

Seeing those notations should have have been a red flag, Cox said.

“You don’t intentionally operate with any airspeed indicator inoperative,” he said. “That’s fundamental. That’s common sense. It’s true of any aircraft at any time.”

If there’s an indication that one of the pilots’ instruments has failed or the two readings don’t agree, the crew is required to abort the takeoff, he said. Improper takeoff was a missed opportunity to avert Lion Air crash