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Jeff C from Coffee and Covid noticed 6 headlines of incidents with fights over a very short period of time. At least some of them seem to be Boeing.

https://open.substack.com/pub/coffeeandcovid/p/waiting-for-godot-saturday-june-22?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=o3nzl

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May 28Liked by Trish Wood

Another great podcast Trish - thank you! I was born in Seattle, grew up here and vividly remember in the early 70s when it seemed all of my friend's Dads worked for Boeing. It was a very big deal - so much pride in their work at that time. I have a number of peers that have worked at Boeing - some are still there, many took earlier retirement. Mixed stories from all of them, as the company is so, so big. But the vibe is very different than years ago..the tipping point was when Boeing moved their headquarters from the Seattle area to Chicago - that was a VERY big deal around here. Many of my peers have joked for years that they work at "The Lazy B". Might be more too that nickname than I thought. I love the information Ed provided...I will now be checking the aircraft assigned to any future flights I have with Alaska Airlines and plan accordingly. Keep up the great work - it is so appreciated!

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Wonderful days when those workers were middle class and so very proud of “If it ain’t Boeing - I ain’t going” from pilots. I felt it the remnants and sorrow when I was out there talking to people on the Bundy shoot.

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Great podcast! As I commented on the previous one you referred to this in, I recommend a book called 'Flirting with Disaster - Why Accidents Are Rarely Accidental,' published in 2008 by Marc Gerstein with Michael Ellsberg (& a Foreword & Afterword by Daniel Ellsberg) - from which I harvested this great quotation from Daniel Ellsberg: “What Dr. Gerstein shows is that reasonable people, who are not malicious, and whose intent is not to kill or injure other people, will nonetheless risk killing vast numbers of people. And they will do it predictably, with awareness … They knew the risks from the beginning, at every stage … the leaders chose, in the face of serious warnings, to consciously take chances that risked disaster … Men in power are willing to risk any number of human lives to avoid an otherwise certain loss to themselves, a sure reversal of their own prospects in the short run.” After your mention of Boeing in the earlier podcast, I both watched the documentary you recommended ('Downfall: The Case Against Boeing') & borrowed the Gerstein book from the library. In which he mentions (among many other preventable disasters of various kinds) a 1994 China Airlines Flight 140 crash that killed 260 people. This was an Airbus with a flight control system the pilots were not fully aware of/trained on. These problems clearly go back a very long way! Very grateful to you for shedding so much light on all this. Your whistleblower guest is very articulate - & very brave. The whole scene of "regulatory capture" is something too many of us are not sufficiently aware of.

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I am going to buy this book. Thank you so much.

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I just had a look at the Web site about the book. Worth taking a quick look at! https://flirtingwdisaster.wordpress.com/about/

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1. I had previously watched the Netflix program about Boeing and while it rightly, IMO, casts Boeing in a negative light, it was also a one-sided program. Its intent seemed to be to indict Boeing, not to present a fair, evenhanded examination. It also used emotions to make points against Boeing. Not one of Netflix' better productions, IMO.

2. How many flight hours did the 737MAX fly by American airlines, without incident? This is not excusing Boeing - having just ONE sensor, with no redundancy built in, should have sent some people to the gallows - but thousands of hours of flight time by US airlines in the MAX without incident before it was grounded and modified suggests insufficient qualifications by other airlines' pilots.

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John Barnett told a friend of his if he ever was found dead that he didn’t take his own life. I have such a tremendous amount of respect for all the whistleblowers out there as the world gets scarier by the day.

Different topic however, for those of you that don’t know the story of DuPont. There is an excellent film on Netflix called Dark Waters about Teflon & the coverup of DuPont poisoning the water supply in many small US towns.

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On a broader note vis-a-vis transport safety, the horrific train accident in East Jersalem OHIO last year was blamed on US government de-regulation (dangerous goods), staff cuts and poor rail and rolling stock maintenance. Norfolk Southern Rail Company is a publicly traded company on the NYSE therefore profit motivated. JS

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Our entire society is built on a profit motivation. Your family doctor has a profit motivation. Indeed, most of the benefits and convenience of modern society can be attributed to a capitalist, profit based system. That, in and of itself, is not inherently evil as many socialists and unions would have you believe. It is the absence of integrity, ethics and accountability that go further to explain these failures. The same decline in basic values we see in government and public institutions.

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"Profit motivated" used to mean that there was interest in maintaining a good corporate reputation, whether that be through customer service, a quality product, or public safety, in order for those profits to continue. Unfortunately, now it appears that we live in an age of corporate global monopolies or oligopolies that are "too big to fail". Profits come first, to he** with the rest.

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Another excellent podcast on Friday Trish and l so appreciated all the additional videos in your substack today.

As usual l write down some notes as l listen and/or watch. I think you and l are of a similar age and l remember the Golden Age of Aviation. In the 60's, in order to be a Stewardess, one had to be a registered nurse!

I saw something recently that indicated airports were struggling to recruit ATC's as the initial tests were so difficult. Instead of maintaining previously high standards, they simply dumbed down the tests. There are now more reports of near misses and recordings of ATC's arguing with veteran pilots trying to land or take off safely. I think the DEI ideology may not be helping.

Anyway, thank God for pilots like Cpt. Sully.

https://youtube.com/shorts/cawk6eMqCv8?si=acHuuhGtlItuoT9K

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May 27·edited May 27Liked by Trish Wood

I studied mechanical engineering at a top Canadian University in the 1980s. Although I never practised as a certified professional engineer, I did find that the Professional Ethics course that I took in fourth year has informed me so much on everything that has gone on of late.

The professor that taught the course came with an academic background in philosophy, and a Mennonite cultural background. A focus was given on whistleblowing, and case studies involved the Ford Pinto debacle, the thalidomide scandal, and Hannah Arendt's book "Eichmann in Jerusalem". Additionally, the professor already had a keen sense for the emerging technology of genetic engineering, warning of the dangers and moral hazards of patenting derivatives of living organisms.

Although the topics explored in that course 37 years ago have little to do with my career in industry, they have informed much of my thinking on the trans issue, Covid, and now the Boeing case.

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Sounds like we have a similar philosophical bent.

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Indeed, I think we do, although I imagine from completely different life experiences.

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May 26Liked by Trish Wood

This is bad- very bad! I wanted to punch that CEO in the face myself. He knew! He lied!! He got a bonus for killing people!! But as bad as this was, it pales in comparison to the Covid jab murders. Where’s the outrage about that?

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It’s truly astonishing the lack of interest by so many citizens regarding the Covid debacle & such a terribly unsafe vaccine. Even worse is all the propaganda shoved down our throats from Gov’t & MSM.

Still happening today. Dr Mary Talley Bowden is looking for a new payment processor since she discovered that Square removed emails regarding her stance on Covid. Censorship from Big Tech is also outrageous.

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May 26Liked by Trish Wood

Haven't watched the podcast yet, but after hearing the catastrophic reports of these incidents will not be flying anywhere in the near future. Actually haven't taken a flight for nearly five years - too many pilots having heart attacks or passing out during flight. Will be keeping my feet firmly on the ground tyvm.

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"Coming up for premium supporters an interview about all the secret documents the government is hiding from you — what is likely in them and what we can do about it."

Free subs aren't part of the collective "we" and won't be privy to this data, on this stack, alas.

Maybe someone on X, like Andy for instance, will spill the beans.

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May 26Liked by Trish Wood

The 6th line of the article reads:

“Both catastrophes were caused by a failed censor, tripping MCAS software”.

The word ‘censor’ should read as ‘sensor’.

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author

Fixed....long day.

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May 27Liked by Trish Wood

When sensors fail it's bad.

When censors fail it's good.

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May 26Liked by Trish Wood

I listened to the podcast, but it didn’t particularly deal with what I understood (from the early reports of some years ago) that there was only one ‘Angle-of-Attack’ sensor fitted to the two fatal aircraft. This single sensor provided the data feed for the MCAS software, so its failure would inevitably lead to the MCAS system instigating the fatally erroneous commands that forced the nose down.

Like all accidents, several factors contributed to this one, so it would be correct to say that a major factor was that Boeing had designed a system that had no redundancy built in. This appears to me to contravene a fundamental principle of critical system design for aircraft. As I recall (from the early reporting in the Seattle Times in about 2019), Boeing HAD actually made provision for a second Angle-of-Attack sensor to provide redundancy, but this was an optional extra that would add to the purchase cost of the aircraft if the airline customer was willing to pay. So – my point is, both accidents occurred partly because of a design error on Boeing’s part – namely that a critical system had no inbuilt redundancy, thus leading to erroneous data taking control of the aircraft.

In fact, there was a way out – namely that the pilots could treat the problem as a ‘runaway stabiliser’ and simply switch off the system that boosted the stabiliser movements, if they understood what was happening – but of course they didn’t, because they had no knowledge that the MCAS system was even installed on the aircraft. Failure to provide this information was an unforgivable mistake on Boeing’s part.

I did understand from the early reports (in 2019?) that the flight crew of some other airlines had also experienced an out-of-control MCAS event, but they put two-and-two together and assumed that they were experiencing some sort of ‘runaway stabiliser’ event and therefore switched the stabiliser boost system off to regain control. However – ultimately - overcoming faulty systems in flight should not rely on pilot intuition or guesswork – it should be documented in the operations manual as an emergency procedure - or at least as a ‘Non-Normal’ procedure - as aircraft manufacturers describe many of the things that can go wrong in any technical system.

To sum up – the accidents had multi-factorial causes (as with most disasters), but in this case the principal triggers were errors in design and the failure of managers in both Boeing and the Regulator to: (1) build in enough redundancy, and (2) ensure that the flight crew were provided both the information and training to fully understand the complexity of the aircraft they were operating. Behind all this lie management cultural factors within the airline industry, which are beyond the scope of my comment here.

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As I understand it, part of the issue with MCAS was that its goal was to mimic the behaviour of the original 737 so that no additional pilot training nor certification was required on the 737 Max.

Using software and additional sensors to mask the different thrust profile of the new engines (and their new mounting position) should have been a big red flag for both Boeing and the licensing body.

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May 27Liked by Trish Wood

have no fear; pretty soon there will be AI controlled aircraft; no need for pilots beyond taxying the craft to a runway and pressing the AI button which will be (insert air authority) protocol;

when, or more likely if, the plane lands on a AI controlled "air traffic controllers" designated runway, the pilot simply needs to switch off AI and taxi the plane to the correct terminal;

the future is looking very promising for flight travel...just ask Boeing and Lockheed execs.

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May 27·edited May 27Liked by Trish Wood

I have designed industrial equipment for 30+ years. Most jurisdictions still require safety circuits (emergency stop circuits, door switch interlocks on access panels, etc) to be hard wired with redundant contacts. Software for safety circuits has been viewed as too risky, as the failure modes are often indeterminate (not predictable). And this is equipment used in factories with trained personnel, not the public at large.

That's why I remain skeptical about things like "driverless" cars suitable for the real world. AI will only make that worse.

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You never catch me is a driverless car. Ever.

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May 27Liked by Trish Wood

Mark - your amusing comment goes to the heart of the cultural problem that is now spreading like a fashionable psychosis throughout the ranks of the decision makers of many corporations - let alone airlines. Those who are taken in by the arrogant purveyors and hucksters of the magical ‘AI’ systems are in for a big shock, because computer systems are nothing but the product of fallible human beings. Software will not only reflect human failings, it will amplify them. Look what recently happened with Google’s Gemini chat-bot for example. It revealed the naivety and just plain stupidity of the programmers who constructed the thing. My lifetime in the aviation industry demonstrated this problem time and again as lay managers made mistake after mistake because they simply didn’t know what they didn’t know - and in addition, spurned the advice of the people who did know - the people who got their hands dirty doing the real jobs that made their companies successful.

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Thanks for this. Very enlightening. If you want to expand into a larger piece I would happily publish here.

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May 27Liked by Trish Wood

Trish - I could string together an essay-length observation of where the big push for ‘AI’ is going to eventually end up, but it would take me a few months to compile, as I would have to fit it in with other routine matters. I was intending to do this anyway for the benefit of my grandchildren. This is not something that I would try and publish up-front as a comment on Substack - I would need to send it to you first for review & editing. Even if you chose not to publish it directly, it might prove to be a useful resource to have on file for the future. How would I get it to you? - I am in Australia, but I think that you reside somewhere closer to the North Pole - Canada??

By the way – in case you are unaware, I suggest that it might be worthwhile checking out the current public inquiry underway in the U.K. on the cruel disaster wrought on hundreds of contractors to the British Post Office, many of whom were unjustly convicted of embezzling post office funds. Some were gaoled, all were ruined, and a few took their own lives. The cause? Defective software in the British Post Office accounting system that lost millions of pounds – but because the incompetent Post Office management assumed that their computers were infallible, they sought to convict their own contractors. The British PM described what has happened in the House of Commons as the biggest injustice in British history. Check out YouTube for clips of the Inquiry (currently under way) showing the senior Post Office managers being examined by barristers. Here is one YouTube link to the ongoing inquiry – other links will pop up: https://youtu.be/MUApBeGElTA?si=WqgKFqjPrpz6ytk4

My point is that over-reliance on highly fallible computer systems with the adoption of the much vaunted ‘AI’ will become a growing nightmare for society in general - especially when the human tendency to avoid responsibility becomes involved with the reluctance of senior managers to recognise the threat of defective software, or even to try to hide the fact that a major mistake has been made. The result – innocent people will suffer – and some will even die. There are a great many horror stories to draw upon – which the modern-day corporate media appears unable or reluctant to pursue.

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And they didn't tell the pilots......

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I think many of the whistleblowers would add that faulty parts, sloppy manufacturing and the deceit around MCAS were part of the corporate corruption. Do watch the Netflix film. It's worth it.

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It is sad that you have lost subscribers over your thoughtful journalism on the Israel/Gaza crisis. After listening to Rabbi Shapiro I don't know how people can't see that this war is genocide. Netanyahu is evil and does not represent the majority of Jewish people worldwide.

I haven't finished the Boeing podcast yet, but will do that this week. Great topic once again.

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Thanks for your kind words. Much appreciated.

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May 26Liked by Trish Wood

failed censor??? An ominous yet hopeful homonym.

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LOL -- I had a long day today and missed it. I have censorship on the brain David. Good catch.

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May 26Liked by Trish Wood

Was I too cryptic? I identified an incorrect homonym in your piece.

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May 26Liked by Trish Wood

In the future, should you again feel the need to point out errors like a clever little scold, why don’t you write her an email instead of broadcasting such self-perceived brilliance for us all to see, hmmm?

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I took it as a joke.... no worries. I can be sloppy when distracted and have censorship on the brain these days. LOL.

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May 27Liked by Trish Wood

I’m glad you did, Trish. Yes, we all have censorship on our minds these days.

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May 27Liked by Trish Wood

with good reason too.

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