New article:
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/failed-certification-faa-missed-safety-issues-in-the-737-max-system-implicated-in-the-lion-air-crash/?amp=1Sounds like a Boeing/FAA boondoggle, plane and simple. Being an engineer myself, I know how things like this get shoved through due to bad management and in some cases, bad engineers, who usually end up teaming up on horrible ideas like this.
mgmt: Omg we will lose orders to Airbus! What shall we do??
eng: design a new plane to compete, like we've been saying for decades
mgmt: but it's too late for that now! Spending all that capital would have forced us to cut the dividend! We need something fast! Can't we hang 787 engines on it?
eng: well you could hang 787 engines on it, but it's already too low for the current engines, since we designed it in the 60s and all. We had to redesign the current engines as it is.
mgmt: Make it happen! We need doers not complainers!
*good engineers all distance themselves voluntarily or involuntarily to non-boondoggle projects*
bad eng: I known how we can do it. We will hack bandaid control system. I did something like this with python once on my raspberry pi home automation system.
mgmt: that's the spirit! you are in charge!
eng [from distance]: if you do that you will need a new type rating, and if customers need a new type rating anyway they are still going to buy Airbuses because they aren't 50 years old...as we've been saying....
mgmt: [pivot to compliance people] Is that true?
compliance: yes, definitely
mgmt: that's not going to work for us. make it happen!
[competent compliance people are distanced]
bad compliance person: I don't think this is necessarily going to require a new type rating. After all [contrived, plausible-sounding reasons]
mgmt: that's the spirit! You are in charge. Good thing we found the talent we need to be competitive within our exceptional talent pool!. I knew those new hiring initiatives would pay off! Let's do a early retirement plan to get some of these old guys out of here. Don't know what we are paying them so much for anyway.