If You Build It—They Will Fly!

In the continuing saga of The Little Plane That Can’t Fly, our biggest aircraft manufacturer has issued a threat— “If we don’t get approval soon to let the airlines fly them, then we will stop building the aircraft”.  As if to say if you don’t give us our way, we are going to pack up our toys and go home.  This isn’t a simple matter of disagreement over what color we are going to paint our fucking living room.  This aircraft has killed 346 people in crashes caused by its instability while flying.  Many pilots have expressed grave concern over its design flaws and its control problems in trying to overcome the difficulties with flight dynamics software.

What I find completely appalling in all of this is the company CEO’s nonchalant way of taking the blame for the death of 346 people on two of his aircraft.  It is my very stern belief that he should be wearing an orange jumpsuit for the rest of his life.  According to many engineers (some no longer with the company), the CEO and many if not all of the officers of the company, had been told that the aircraft is not safe to fly.  It has been discovered and well documented that the U.S. aircraft manufacturers closest competitor was about to launch their new aircraft, which would serve the same markets as the plagued jet from America.  So, our brave executives did what greedy bastard corporations do—they cut corners to get their product to market first, while our regulators were seemingly on hiatus.

I am not going to bore you with the complete story of what is wrong with the airplane, other than to sum it up as—they tried to make a square peg fit in a round hole.  By installing an engine that was too large for the design of the aircraft they completely altered its center of gravity and wing aerodynamics.  They then tried to compensate for the bad flight characteristics that ensued by using flight software meant to automatically correct the dangerous pitch and attitude tendencies of the aircraft.  Let’s see—has software ever failed?  Can an incorrect input cause it to do the wrong thing?  We all know the answers to these questions.

Several years ago, I decided to get my private flying license.  In the process, I pursued not only my private ticket but also multi-engine and commercial instrument ratings.  I can still remember my first flight with an instructor as if it were yesterday.  Once I took the stick from him after rotating the aircraft off the ground, I was petrified, his first words to me were—whoa!  I had a death grip on the yolk and my hands were turning a muted shade of grey.  He quickly pointed out to me that once you trim out the aircraft you can literally fly it with just your fingertips.  I have since heard many pilots talk about how sweet it is flying the equipment that they are on, some even say their aircraft will virtually fly itself.

Well, the aircraft subject of this blog is anything but able to fly itself, in fact, it all most sounds like trying to fly a rotor-wing aircraft (helicopter) level at 400 MPH.  I have had the chance to try flying a helicopter, no easy feat, unlike a fixed-wing aircraft (airplane) a helicopter does not want to fly.  In fact, you have to almost wrestle it into submission and constantly give it input through the cyclic (stick) that is contrary to fixed-wing flying.  What is my point to all of this?  Simple really, why should your pilots have to be constantly wrestling with the aircraft that you are riding on to your next destination?  Why should you, the airline customer, have to be worried that the software on the aircraft will suddenly fail, plummeting you towards the ground like a lawn dart?  The company, its asshole executives and its appointed talking heads are trying desperately to convince we, the customers, that the problem is simply software and training.  I call bullshit!  When the designers, engineers, and technicians that build an aircraft tell you that it is unsafe to fly, even if you load it with software, social media, and video games, then I tend to believe them more than I do the greedy bastards who value money more than human lives.

As the company cries the blues about how much money it is losing daily, I personally could give a furry-rats-ass-less.  They cut corners trying to continually revamp an aircraft concept that was conceived in 1964, how pitiful is that?  Instead of designing something safer, more environmentally friendly, and maybe with an up-to-date appearance, a U.S. manufacturer shows just how inept, greedy and apathetic it has become.  Gone are the days when they lead the world with some pretty great aircraft.  Now, they have the blood of 346 human lives on their hands.  Sure, you can say 346 lives aren’t many in the grand scheme of things unless of course, they are your loved ones or—you.

I have been an airline customer to the tune of nearly 250,000 miles and feel very qualified to attach my opinion to this rather touchy and egregious subject.  Sure, there have been airline accidents in the past, some weather-related, some mechanical and a few pilot errors, even a couple where negligence was involved but rarely at least in recent memory have any been because of sheer greed and the disrespect of life in accumulating it.  As a fellow customer and your friend, I plead with you, even if this aircraft gets future approval, do not fly it!  We see this type of greed happening more frequently now and as citizens, humans and yes customers, the time has come to say—-ENOUGH!

Talk to Ya Later

The Grumpy Old Fart Customer @2019 All Rights Reserved