[shiven]

From my point-of-view, two opinion points:

1. I am glad that 737 MAX has been grounded. May it stay that way, globally, until this issue is provably resolved.

2. The entire Boeing chain of management that resulted in these crashes should be publicly flogged, their remuneration & benefits clawed back & subject to a mandatory minimum prison sentence.

Who the hell am I kidding! Neither is very likely to happen in the present day US. Carry on then, I guess. Just make sure to sign your Last Will & Testament before taking that next flight.

[rvolkan]

What happens if your #2 is applied to doctors, car/ship manufacturers, food producers, grocery stores, house builders, taxis, restaurants, software engineers, medical device producers and so on? Every profession caused accidental deaths.

"Legal action" against bad decisions is a must. However, mandatory prison sentence for accidents is a terrible idea.

[kunkurus]

If Boeing knowingly exposed the passengers to the risk of injury it's criminal negligence and usually the punishment is imprisonment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_negligence

[Wowfunhappy]

Especially in light of the current size of the US's prison population. We should be very careful in general about advocating for more prison sentences. It's an easy thing to do, but the societal outcome is a lot more complicated.

[veryworried]

One thing that bothers me about this generation is this thirst for infinite punishment.

People hunger for someone to blame, rattling off a long list of maladies that should befall that person, until they have been thoroughly satisfied, but they are never satisfied. They always feel there should be someone else, something more, something deserved.

The truth is, there is no point to such a punishment here. It is unlikely that any individual plotted to kill people by pushing some faulty code out of malice. These were people simply doing their best and they failed.

[nine_k]

While I agree that thirst for punishment is counter-productive, I'm not sure that people did their best, or rather that the criteria of the "best" were right.

I remember that the aircraft in question was tweaked beyond stability in order to reuse the existing type certificate. This procedure need scrutiny, likely both on Boeing's and FAA sides.

[jyounker]

The news that I'm hearing now is that Boeing has been working on a software fix for this problem since at least January.

Where were the glaring safety warnings to the airlines, their customers?

[JMTQp8lwXL]

Even if the US doesn't choose to do much (though I find it embarrassing the FAA was one of the last regulatory bodies to respond), Boeing will face a reckoning globally from other regulatory agencies.

Stock is down 15% since March 1. Hard to know what an executives there are thinking, but I hope some folks in the organization genuinely feels some sort of empathy for the families of the deceased on these flights.

[markdown]

> though I find it embarrassing the FAA was one of the last regulatory bodies to respond

The top 3 officials at FAA are unfilled, with seat-warmers there in an "acting" capacity. I wonder if that's related. https://www.faa.gov/about/key_officials/

[WalterBright]

I'd fly on a 737 MAX tomorrow. But I might ask the crew during boarding if they're familiar with the stab trim cutoff switches.

[jquery]

I've flown on a 737 MAX a couple times this year. Smooth, comfortable, quiet flight. Although the failure of the MCAS system has been catastrophic, fortunately for Boeing the fix doesn't seem difficult... make an extra AoA vane or two mandatory and add a warning if they disagree, and require MAX pilots to sim train an MCAS failure.

The planes seem eminently airworthy, so far it appears they weren't brought down by anything that's terribly difficult to engineer out of. Unfortunately for Boeing and the FAA, nothing is more costly than an accident, it will take years to earn back the public's trust. Even if it's found the pilots were downright negligent in their handling of the MCAS failure, that won't make the general flying public feel any better about it, and it won't bring back the dead, may they rest in peace.

[virusduck]

I'd bet more than a few of them are pretty familiar now

[magduf]

>1. I am glad that 737 MAX has been grounded. May it stay that way, globally, until this issue is provably resolved.

No, it should stay grounded permanently. Who wants to risk their lives in one of these things now, with the reputation that Boeing has now earned? The airlines should be able to return these things to Boeing and get their money back. If that means Boeing goes under, then so be it.

[yeukhon]

IMO, I don't want MAX to be resurrected. If the design is flawed, let it be and shut it down. But this ain't gonna happen because how expensive aircrafts are.

Oh well.