By Gauthier Hordel
In 2018 and 2019, Boeing made the headlines with two successive disasters involving the 737 MAX of Indonesia’s Lion Air and then Ethiopian Airlines. The documentary Downfall (Netflix) traces the history and causes of these tragic events, demonstrating without doubt the responsibility of Boeing executives.
Boeing was the flagship of the US aviation industry for decades. Renowned for its capacity for innovation and the reliability of its aircraft, the company was the world leader in the aviation industry, with 10,000 aircraft in service around the world. For years, engineers, technicians and workers were proud to wear the colours of a famous and prestigious company.
Then there were two 747 crashes separated by only four months. In both cases, the black boxes revealed that a probe on the front of the aircraft, to measure the angle of bank of the aircraft’s nose, was defective, recording erroneous values. This unique probe was connected to an automatic trajectory correction system controlled by software called MCAS.
For the Indonesian accident, the black box also revealed an altitude indication problem. The automatic flight correction struggled with what it ‘thought’ was the pitch of the plane and therefore it caused the plane to dive down. However, in the absence of accurate data on altitude, the system does not understand that it is sending the aircraft, with its flight crew and passengers, into a fatal fall. The pilots were receiving a series of conflicting alarms that they did not have time to analyse and, not understanding the reaction of the plane, they could not correct it.
Pilots not warned about new system
At that time, no 737 MAX pilot was aware of the existence of MCAS and the possibility of disabling it. Later, Boeing had to acknowledge that pilots were not informed that the 737 MAX had the MCAS automatic trajectory correction system and the ability to disable it if necessary.
However, although the Ethiopian Airlines pilots ended up with the same anomaly as the Indonesians, and did disconnect the MCAS, they also failed to right the plane. The experts showed that they had only 10 seconds, once the alarms were triggered, to understand that the problem came from a probe defect sending erroneous data to MCAS, making the plane plunge.
Boeing’s entire strategy during these two accidents was to try to discredit the pilots in order to make them take responsibility for the disasters. The investigation by a Wall Street Journal reporter revealed that behind Boeing’s scurrilous claims lies another reality.
The company has faced serious competition from the European Airbus for years, to the point of losing its leading position in the civil aviation and wide-body markets. The 737 MAX was supposed to help Boeing return to first place by signing numerous contracts with airlines.
When a manufacturer puts a new aircraft on the market, it must comply with rules imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which carries out a series of checks to verify that the aircraft meets specific requirements. Among these rules, there is the obligation to train pilots on the new aircraft, through flight simulators.
New engines heavier than old ones
However, the investigation found that Boeing concealed the extent of the changes, to pass off the 737 MAX not as a new aircraft, but as a simple modification of the 737. In this way, Boeing had gone through its obligations that allowed it to avoid simulator development and pilot training.
Among the major changes Boeing concealed were the new engines for the 737 MAX, which are heavier than the old ones. However, the fuselage of the 737 was not modified, and engineers were forced to place the engines further forward. This new position caused the aircraft to pitch forward. The MCAS system was implemented precisely to correct this defect.
Usually, and as a safety precaution, aircraft are equipped with two inclination probes, but for the sake of economy it was “imposed” on engineers that they remove one.
While Boeing has based its reputation on the quality and safety of its aircraft, what are the circumstances that have led it to abandon the existing culture within the company, to the point of putting the lives of cabin crew and passengers in danger? Undeniably, it is the race for profit that is responsible.
In 1996, Boeing bought McDonnell-Douglas, which was the world’s fourth largest aircraft manufacturer at the time. According to Boeing employees, it is from this operation that the company’s policy began to change. Many of them blame the absorbed company, which would have imposed radically different methods.
Speculative bubbles and short-termism
Now, short-term results, quick cash flow and shareholder satisfaction have become the main objectives. In the 80s and 90s, the economy transformed. Profit rates in the industrial sector were slowing, prompting investors and companies to turn to the financial sector. This ensures a higher return on investment than the productive sector, but creates speculative bubbles in the process.
Companies in the industrial sector seek to create value by playing on the value of shares to ensure a higher return. Boeing’s acquisition of McDonnell-Douglas to form an aerospace giant and attract new investors was one of the indicators of this economic transformation.
Subsequently, the quality of construction of aircraft took a back seat, as it generated additional costs. Productivity was increased and came at the expense of the necessary rigour in the aircraft production process. Management within the company was changing. The sole purpose of innovation was to increase profits. Regulatory procedures were sloppy, and employees confused. For them, Boeing was no longer synonymous with innovation, quality and safety. The company had become a purely financial machine.
More or less pronounced economic slowdown
The strategies implemented by corporations demonstrate that under capitalism, the engine of economic activity is the pursuit of maximum profit. Since the 70s, we have been living in a system of permanent crisis and more or less pronounced economic slowdown. Under these conditions, everything that stands in the way of profits is painstakingly destroyed. Whether it is social conquests, the fight against global warming or, as here, the quality of aircraft construction, they are only so many obstacles to short term profitability.
Capitalists act with impunity, and the 347 deaths from two crashes have little value in the face of their interests. The economic power of this type of enterprise is far too great. The families of the victims, having sought to have Boeing’s guilt acknowledged, were finally able to realise it. Boeing made every effort to get its 737 MAX aircraft into service and avoid a lawsuit.
As long as capitalism reigns, we will be systematically subject to the “higher” interests of the ruling class. This is one example among many of the need to put a definitive end to capitalist ownership of the means of production.
First published on the Marxist website, La Riposte. The original can be found here.
