By: Donald V. Watkins
© Copyrighted and Published on January 15, 2020
The world knows that Boeing's new 737 MAX airplane is unsafe. The aircraft is fatally flawed from a structural engineering standpoint. Two 737 MAX airplanes have already crashed and killed 346 passengers and crew members.
A secret FAA report that was publicly released in December predicted that a total of 15 of 737 MAX airplanes will crash during the life cycle of the aircraft's production. The crashes were predicted to occur every 2 to 3 years. A total of 2,625 passengers and crew members aboard the 737 MAX jetliners are expected to die in these crashes, assuming the FAA allows the airplane to fly again without structural modifications.
Air carriers worldwide have ordered 5,000 of these flying death traps, which cost $200 million a piece. The 737 MAX's "Frankenstein" engineering design makes them unsafe to fly. Boeing's first "fix" for the 737 MAX was the MCAS software package. This "fix" proved to be ineffective after the first two crashes occurred within six months of each other.
Boeing's new solution to its 737 MAX crisis is simple. It involves two slick hoodwinking moves on the flying public.
First, Boeing will make passengers on future 737 MAX flights assume the risk of flying on this defective airplane by encouraging carriers to specify on the purchased tickets that these passengers are flying on a 737 MAX. This way, the unlucky passengers and crew members who are among the next 2,279 people who will die in the remaining 13 fatal crashes will not have a viable legal claim against Boeing because they voluntarily assumed the risk of flying on the airplane with full knowledge of its widely-known design flaws and defects.
Second, Boeing will offer simulator training to 737 MAX pilots to help them navigate the cockpit emergencies that are expected to occur in the next 13 fatal crashes. The training will give pilots 15 seconds of response time to avoid a crash after takeoff, which is when these crashes are likely to occur. Realistically, no pilot can effectively respond to this type of cockpit emergency in a mere 15 seconds. This prophylactic solution allows Boeing to shift liability for the next 2,279 deaths from the company to the pilots and airlines that employ them by citing "pilot error" for these crashes.
Will Boeing's hoodwinking strategy work? Yes, but only if the flying public buys it. Boeing has already secured a preliminary buy-in from FAA regulators and top Department of Justice officials. In Washington, big campaign donor money speaks louder than flight safety measures, especially during a presidential election year.
Finally, the public should understand that it is far cheaper for Boeing to pay death claims to the 2,625 passengers who have already died and those who will likely die in the FAA's 15 predicted 737 MAX crashes than it is to properly fix the design flaws in the aircraft. In this regard, Boeing continues to place profits ahead of flight safety.
