[nolok]

If the EASA finds real major issue that the FAA didn’t find then the FAA being the world validation office for Boeing planes is over.

But I don’t think this will happen, the FAA seem to have realized how angry the rest of the world agencies are. 350 dead because they screwed up, and their first reaction was to say it was the dead pilots fault...

[jussij]

The FAA lost a big chunk of it's credibility in the way they handled the fist MAX 737 crash.

The fact Ethiopa insisted on sending the flight records for their MAX 737 crash to Europe and not to the US shows some serious loss of trust in the FAA had occurred.

And that was not helped when the USA was the last country to ground the aircraft.

[callmeal]

>The fact Ethiopa insisted on sending the flight records for their MAX 737 crash to Europe and not to the US shows some serious loss of trust in the FAA had occurred.

I don't blame them, given how Boeing had previously tampered with crash evidence[0].

From the article on the investigation of the crash of Flight 585:

>Walz, of Parker Bertea, was assigned to hand-carry the servo valve to Irvine. John Calvin, the quality-control engineer from Boeing, instructed an assistant to pack up the parts. According to court records, the assistant left the room and returned with a taped package, which he handed to Walz, who carried it on a flight to Southern California.

>When Walz opened the package that afternoon at the Parker Bertea plant, he discovered that three servo-valve parts were missing: a spring, spring guide and end cap.

>Boeing, citing ongoing litigation, has never explained why those three parts were left out of the package forwarded to Irvine.

[0] http://old.seattletimes.com/news/local/737/part02/

[nolok]

Well when they made that decision every country in the top 10 by air traffic volume had banned the plane except for the USA and Japan (who basically does what the FAA says on such issues), and the FAA and Boeing were still saying it was pilot error and basically blaming the dead people. I don’t see how any self respecting country could have trusted them with the black box in those conditions

[vinay427]

> basically blaming the dead people

This is strange wording to me. There's nothing inherently wrong with blaming "dead people" for something, because many accidents caused by user error result in death of the user. However, in this situation, it certainly seems rather hasty and inappropriate.

[tialaramex]

Well first of all blaming people is the wrong thing for an accident investigation to be doing anyway.

The purpose of accident investigation is not to fuel Americans' apparently insatiable appetite for revenge, you already have plenty of means for that, the purpose is the Prevention of Future Harm. Why Future Harm? Because we don't have time travel.

You clearly won't prevent any future harm by blaming anybody, whether alive or dead. To prevent future harm you will need to change what is done or how.

Almost invariably‡ the Right Thing™ will be some mix of procedural changes and engineering changes. For example ensuring that the right staff are empowered to stop something that's a bad idea being done even if senior management are short-sighted enough to demand it.

So the result is never "Bob is to blame because Bob did X" but rather e.g. "Bob did X. The Foozle should be modified to prevent doing X" or "Bob did X. Company policy did not say that doing X was forbidden. Change policy to forbid X".

‡ I've written about this before on HN. The one investigation report I've seen that did _not_ have any actionable recommendations was into an accident where two people died when their fishing boat sank. The cause? They'd taken so much heroin they couldn't operate the boat safely. Why no recommendation? Using heroin is already illegal. Using any intoxicating substance while in charge of a boat is already illegal. This was already obviously a terrible idea.

[jussij]

There nothing wrong with blaming the "dead people".

The problem is to put out an accident incident report blaming the "dead people" to only then find out the report was 100% wrong.

[ddalex]

blaming dead people may be a misnomer for a common cover-up technique in communist-countries investigations: the dead people are at fault, because then you don't have to punish anybody living, and the dead people are already dead, what you gonna do to them ?

[addicted]

Sure the FAA realizes that, but does the FAA, which has been hemorrhaging expertise as they started relying on Afompany experts, instead of their own, have the capability to find all issues?

[neuronic]

The era of American exceptionalism is coming to an end and Americans are screeching from the pain. As technology leader and economic powerhouse, the US has left its cultural, political and financial footprint in Europe in the past decades but the extent of that influence is now downgraded. And the reason is inner decay.

When the wall came down in Eastern Germany, we tuned into Knight Rider and MacGyver. The A-Team and the Power Rangers were on and life seemed to change for the better as the German East experienced American liberalism after decades of authoritarianist socialism.

I glorified America growing up and as a 11 year old. In 2000, I was more excited to see the Statue of Liberty the first time than for any Christmas before. Nothing came close to seeing the city of my childhood heroes (the Ghostbusters) and seeing WTC/Empire State when driving in from JFK.

But 9/11 happened and somehow America sold its soul. Not that Gulf War or Vietnam didn't happen, but it changed everything about the tiny bits of the amazing USA that I had always imagined. Post-9/11 I ended up living for nearly 6 years in the US and all the problems became apparent to me as a growing teenager. America was not nearly as great as propaganda made it out to be.

Back home in Europe, I never once worried about health. Going to the doc was normal and expected. Emergency procedures were performed without a second thought to cost. In the US, I was billed $800 for 3 stitches when I cut my thumb (deeply) and I got lucky because university ambulance transported me.

In Europe, in my hometown of around 1 million people, I got into problems with bullies and ran into thieves/thugs and it definitely sucked.

But in the US, I experienced muggings at gun point, one mass shooting (~13 dead), one fatal stabbing on campus, one robbery in my SO's home, arson in the house across my street and one meth lab explosion... it felt absolutely surreal (happened all in Binghamton, NY - not really a prime example of a blossoming economy, I know).

In classes, people were overtly concerned with political correctness and yelled at Middle Eastern history professors for using specific "offending" terms. Also, excluding God from the evolutions lecture was a highlight. Every single international student felt cringe and embarrassment when that Midwestern girl yelled at 300 people that evolution is just a theory and intelligent design ought to be taught with as much dedication and she feels offended.

Personally, America often felt like it was run by corrupt cronies who torpedoed education where ever possible. College is a for-profit business rather than an investment into the next generation of citizens. It felt so weird and I think the social cracks that were apparent 15 years ago are now leading to structural failure in society.

There are many smart and capable people in the US. Whether they did amazing stuff for their local hospital, took part in the Apollo program or engineered comms for Lockheed Martin. I met so many amazing folks. I hope that their rational influence can be stronger again.

Now I will go back and concern myself with Europe's own massive problems. I carry the US in my heart, as I lived there for half a decade. I hope that the country is in a local minimum right now and that the path out is already in view.

[martin_a]

While I have never been to the US, this somewhat reflects my feelings and thoughts, too.

When I was younger I thought I really needed to go and see the USA. Then 9/11 happened and it started to go down. These days I feel sorry for probably not being able to see the US and the landscape and whatnot that is great about it, but I really can't stand the political "atmosphere" and how this influences the whole world in a negative way.

[Zenbit_UX]

This has been the quiet opinion of almost every Canadian for decades, we have a front seat view of our neighbors and its sad to see.

[somecontext]

> one mass shooting (~13 dead) ... in Binghamton, NY

In case anyone is curious, this appears to refer to the following event: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binghamton_shootings

[ta6091234]

Very well put. I hold a similar sentiment (from India, lived in US for years, now live in UK).

[vinay427]

> In the US, I was billed $800 for 3 stitches when I cut my thumb (deeply) and I got lucky because university ambulance transported me.

I was billed about that much, also in "Europe", when an ambulance was called, no treatment was performed on me, and I wasn't even transported by the ambulance. This was in Switzerland despite having health insurance. There's no general European health insurance system.

[missjellyfish]

Switzerland is not part of the EU, so different rules apply. As far as I know, a EU health insurance would have covered you (retroactively; as in: pay $800 and send the invoice + proof of payment to your insurance and you'd get reimbursed), but when traveling outside the EU it is always a good Idea to carry a travel health insurance with you that covers these.

[vinay427]

I think you may have misunderstood. I'm talking about having Swiss health insurance in Switzerland. The standards for health insurance and cost for treatment in "Europe" are not always lower than in the US as the parent commenter implied.

[magduf]

I'm an American who's never been to Switzerland (I've come close), and even I know full well that Switzerland isn't part of the EU, and is completely different from all the countries that surround it.

This is like traveling to Belize and complaining that they don't speak Spanish.

[vinay427]

I was referring to Swiss health insurance in Switzerland and the cost of an ambulance call here. This has little to do with the EU. I live in Switzerland so I'm quite aware it's not in the EU.

EDIT: Also, for the record Switzerland does observe the EHIC system so health insurances from EU/EEA countries are valid here and vice versa, so your example of Belize isn't even accurate. Switzerland isn't in the EU/EEA but has a series of bilateral treaties which harmonize many things such as this, research funding for EU projects, freedom of movement of people, etc.

[kungito]

Ummm I have a European health card and I was stitched in France and Austria for free when I got my injuries. I don't know about Switzerland since it's got special snowflake status

[vinay427]

Yes, it should work here as well because Switzerland uses the EHIC system. My experience is with Swiss health insurance, and how an ambulance call can cost more than it does in the US even in a place in Europe.