Scudrunners

A documentary about the 737 Max and MCAS on Netflix.

Just at the part where China was first to ground them.

A bit of background….

Randy Babbitt was appointed FAA Director during this time. He was hell on drunk driving right up until he got caught drunk driving and it was all over for his hypocrisy.

He resigned and a career politician- who couldn’t land a Cherokee- took over the FAA and with no one in charge, Boeing did a bad thing.

With respect to MCAS I am reminded what the smartest AC pilot - Rocky - once told me: software is unimportant and the people who write it are morons. I think he went on to advise Southwest on minimizing infrastructure spending.

…from the same people that brought us Cuties….

It wasn’t bad.

Short story, some dicks from McDonnell Douglas took over, laid off a bunch of people, including lots of quality control folks and started pumping out airplanes intended to maximize profits.

Great success!

I don't have very much time on the MAX. Maybe a couple hundred hours of doing line indoc and teaching in the sim. I watched this documentary when it was first released early in 2022. Maybe I'm just weird but I wasn't shocked or outraged at all. It's aviation. The industry is always cutting corners, cutting costs and taking short cuts to maximize profits. These guys just got exposed in spectacular fashion. I bet in a few years there's going to be another gigantic f@ck up and everyone will forget about the MAX and be outraged about something else.

Agreed, it happens in the food industry. I feel like that’s arguably worse.

Hey I flew on Westjets 2nd max on its 3rd flight and I have to admit it was quiet and comfortable in “premium economy” (oxymoron).


Down at sim theirs a sign that says the best safety device in any airplane is a well trained pilot.

I kind of chuckle when I see it every year because I know several well trained pilots who can’t fly a plane if Hal 2000 shits the bed. But they ace the exam every year and can tap on the FMS like Fred Astaire.