Following are edited excerpts from
a current NPR report:
The FAA gives Boeing 90 days to fix quality control issues. Critics say they run deepWASHINGTON — When Captain Dennis Tajer gets ready to fly a Boeing 737 Max jet, he brings along something he doesn't need on any other plane: Post-it notes and a marker.
That's how Tajer reminds himself to turn off the engine anti-icing system. If he forgets, and leaves the anti-icing system running for more than five minutes during dry conditions, the consequences could be catastrophic.
"The engine could fail and come apart," says Tajer, a veteran pilot for American Airlines, and a spokesman for the union that represents its pilots. "That's pretty ominous."
To be clear, Tajer insists he can fly the plane safely despite the design flaw in the anti-icing system. He does it all the time.
But he's lost patience with Boeing: "Right now, we don't trust them," Tajer says. "And it's led us to ask, what else you got? Because every time something pops up, we learn that it has tangled roots deep down into the dysfunction of Boeing."
Federal regulators may be running out of patience as well. The Federal Aviation Administration announced Wednesday that Boeing has 90 days to come up with a plan to fix its quality control issues.
"Boeing must commit to real and profound improvements," FAA administrator Mike Whitaker said in a statement. "Making foundational change will require a sustained effort from Boeing's leadership, and we are going to hold them accountable every step of the way."
The announcement comes a day after Whitaker met with Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun and other top company officials.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun promised to meet the FAA's deadline: "Boeing will develop the comprehensive action plan with measurable criteria that demonstrates the profound change that Administrator Whitaker and the FAA demand."
More than just 'a story about missing bolts'A lot of attention has been focused on the door plug that blew off Alaska Airlines flight 1282. But the company's critics say the problems with the 737 Max go much deeper than that.
"It's not a story about missing bolts," says Ed Pierson, a former senior manager at the Boeing factory in Renton, Wash. where it builds the 737 Max jets. Pierson tried to get the company's management to halt production back in 2018 — before two crashes of the 737 Max 8 that killed 346 people — because of what Pierson saw as problems in every stage of the plane's development.
"From the beginning to the end, it's been rushed," Pierson said, including the plane's design, certification and production. "When you're putting people under that kind of pressure, they make mistakes."
Pierson is not at Boeing anymore. He now directs a watchdog group called the Foundation for Aviation Safety. But Pierson says he's still hearing about som
e of the same problems at Boeing's factories. And he still won't fly on a 737 Max jet.
"We're saying these planes need to be grounded because we're seeing all kinds of aircraft system malfunctions," he said. "New airplanes should not be having problems like this."
Federal regulators take a harder lineThe FAA has already forced Boeing to slow down, capping production of the 737 Max at 38 jets per month. Now regulators have given Boeing a deadline to come up with a plan to improve quality control. That plan must incorporate the findings of the FAA's ongoing audit of Boeing's assembly lines and suppliers, the agency said, as well as the recent findings of a panel of outside experts.
The panel's report, published Monday, found
"a disconnect" with respect to safety between Boeing's management and the rest of the organization, and said that employees may be reluctant to raise concerns because they fear retaliation.
Note: Textual emphasis in the above report was added. 
Comments
With airlines, for example, it's common to manufacture smaller planes with just a few seats less that the "X" number which would require tighter compliance and more safety measures. Scumpigs.
Man, this guy has perfected the art of B.S.
"The panel's report, published Monday, found "a disconnect" with respect to safety between Boeing's management and the rest of the organization. . ."
That is B.S. Management does not put bolts. Missing bolts and loose bolts is a sign that the entire organization is deseased and in need of an urgent cultural change which can only occur by replacing the existing leadership. We need somebody like the current CEOs of MSFT or GE at BA, until then I plan to stay away from this stock.