To begin, let’s do a quick thought exercise. Think about all of the services that you patronize — whether by choice or necessity — products that you purchase and industries you interact with on a yearly basis. It could be succinctly described as one’s consumer experience, even if we’re not always acting as consumers in every interaction. Off the top of your head, what are some of the industries or services that you patronize that you believe can least afford to cut corners and prioritize profit over quality control and safety? I’m sure a few come to mind — the quality of medical care, the structural soundness of your automobile, housing construction — where errors in quality control and safety can have devastating, even deadly, consequences. To take the point further, what is one industry in which cutting corners and ignoring quality control seems particularly foolish, given the ultimate point of its existence? Airline travel, and specifically the construction of airplanes, would be right at the top of the list, given how crucial safety is to the industry. That is why recent developments around airplane-manufacturing giant Boeing have been so shocking and disconcerting. Over the last six or seven years, Boeing has been enveloped in scandal, but it has reached a cascading crescendo in recent months, with a litany of incredibly serious accusations against the company accompanying near-daily issues with its troubled 737 MAX airplanes. How did a storied American company like Boeing get to a place where it’s operating and cutting corners like a fly-by-night enterprise, and what does it say about the structure and incentives of the American economy? Boeing’s most recent string of problems was set off on January 5, when an Alaska Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing back at Portland International Airport after a door panel fell off at 16,000 feet. The plane in question was a Boeing 737 MAX, and after further inspection, the cause was an absence of bolts on the door plug. Although passengers had to endure a terrifying experience, it is extremely fortunate for all involved that the incident wasn’t even more serious. The following day, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered all Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes in U.S. territory to be temporarily grounded, But after announcing it would increase oversight on the 737 MAX 9, the FAA cleared the aircrafts to resume flights at the end of January. 15
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTg3NDExNQ==