19 June 2024

By The Numbers - part the fifty sixth

Ok, so there's more reporting on Calhoun's Congressional testimony, disasterous in my humble opinion. This report includes this quote
Families that lost loved ones in two Boeing 737 Max crashes said on Wednesday that the company committed the "deadliest corporate crime in US history" and asked the Justice Department to fine the company the maximum $24 billion it could face in a criminal trial.
Well... I'd at least rate the makers of asbestos as more culpable, at least in number of deaths and morbidity. And, of course, there's Agent Orange from Vietnam. And the Union Carbide Bhopal incident in India. One could dredge up many business actions that resulted in greater deaths.

What has struck me as odd from the beginning of the Max incidents, is that there's been little, or may be no, reporting on the earlier design/manufacturing screw up with the 737. One need only read up the wiki page.
During the 1990s, a series of rudder issues on series -200 and -300 aircraft resulted in multiple incidents. In two total loss accidents, United Airlines Flight 585 (a -200 series) and USAir Flight 427, (a -300), the pilots lost control of the aircraft following a sudden and unexpected deflection of the rudder, killing everyone aboard, a total of 157 people.
The plane wasn't grounded during this issue. May be not enough souls were lost?

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