So, this is a completely ignorant take courtesy of the NY Post op ed. I feel dumber just thinking about this, but it needs to be fisked anyways Eco madness is behind the 737 MAX debacle, but no one is talking about it.

There’s a reason no one is talking about it.

It’s sheer dumbfuckery.

Boeing has sought to keep the same airframe in play since there’s huge costs in building new plane from scratch. They thought they could get FAA and authorities to sign off on stretched version of the 737, which has new more efficient engines that cost less to operate than the prior generation of 737.

It’s about operational cost savings, not the environment. Boeing can claim that the plane reduces emissions, because that’s absolutely true. The engines burn less, pollute less, and deliver more power and can haul more people than the prior engine/plane combination.

But the crash happened because Boeing hid that key mechanisms changed and that the computers would take over and fight the pilot over key decisions under certain circumstances, and drive the plane into the ground.

There is nothing about the environment involved here except the toxic culture at Boeing that skirted the rules, and the lax oversight at the FAA as a result of Reagan (and forward) handing over significant oversight to the very manufacturers who build the planes.