How close is the FAA to detecting that safety is not a business model?
"We don’t ‘sell’ safety; that’s not our business model." -Boeing CEO
ref: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2019/10/30/when-compa...
"We don’t ‘sell’ safety; that’s not our business model." -Boeing CEO
ref: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2019/10/30/when-compa...
That being said, I think the purchase of several commercial aircraft liners (and the pilot/crew training to go with it) is more than anything a true long term commitment. Safety is one thing, reliability is another. Boeings shtick always was to go for old and tested technology. That had some appeal. But nowadays you can't help but feel that Airbus went with the times and evolved what planes are while Boeing forgot how to do them.
I should have inc the relevant quote(fixd). Anyway, that was my understanding. But in my linked article, Boeing's CEO corrects me:
"We don’t ‘sell’ safety; that’s not our business model."
This is his day job after all.
His work at Boeing is so well regarded that investors couldn't wait to firehose capital his way.
ref:https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/forme...
Boeing's CEO is what success looks like.
That sort of long term outcome is fairly irrelevant to the people in control. Short term profits are what matter. Burn and bail.
After enough years of profit-taking by burning thru hard-built assets - you have the only long term success that matters (to the people with control).
The FAA doesn't seem to take any notice of Boeing's business model.
The fact that Boeing doesn't think it's their business doesn't mean that nobody thinks it's their business.
To Boeing, planes need to be safe enough to not cause airlines to cancel orders or result in excessive fines from the government. Any additional safety is waste. The optimal number of people killed is higher than 0 when trying to maximize profits.
As Mike Rowe says, "Safety Third"[1]. The need to make money is first, then willingness to assume risk, and finally safety.
[1] https://mikerowe.com/2022/03/the-origin-of-safety-third/
That doesn't mean they don't take measures to improve safety, just that it's not able to override all other concerns. It's ultimately up to the people who are put at risk to manage their own safety & decide which risks to take, that cannot be entirely delegated to the organizations putting one at risk! "Safety First" encourages dangerous complacency on the part of the people bearing the risk.