Flying Blind with Peter Robison

Oxide and Friends Twitter Space: January 10th, 2022

Flying Blind with Peter Robison

We’ve been holding a Twitter Space weekly on Mondays at 5p for about an hour. Even though it’s not (yet?) a feature of Twitter Spaces, we have been recording them all; here is the recording for our Twitter Space for January 10th, 2022.

In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, our special guest was Peter Robison.

Other speakers on January 10th included MattSci and Simeon Miteff. (Did we miss your name and/or get it wrong? Drop a PR!)

Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:

• [@5:02](https://youtu.be/q6i9NPslfE4?t=302) Peter on Japan Air Lines Flight 123
• Boeing 777 > Bryan: The things I am the most proud of are the things I’ve worked with other people on, > when a team does something that feels beyond an individual’s grasp.
• [@12:25](https://youtu.be/q6i9NPslfE4?t=745) Peter’s history covering aerospace
  • McDonnell Douglas
• [@15:53](https://youtu.be/q6i9NPslfE4?t=953) Jack Welch, corporate culture
  • Investors over customers
  • John Godson 1975 The Rise and Fall of the DC-10 book
• [@24:12](https://youtu.be/q6i9NPslfE4?t=1452) Questionable morals from execs
• John Newhouse 1982 The Sporty Game book
• [@27:41](https://youtu.be/q6i9NPslfE4?t=1661) When did it become clear that the 737 MAX was problematic?
  • Lion Air Flight 610
  • Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System MCAS
  • Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302
  • Shifting blame, public messaging vs behind closed doors opinion forming
• [@36:31](https://youtu.be/q6i9NPslfE4?t=2191) Why pilots had no training (or knowledge of) the MCAS system
• [@39:23](https://youtu.be/q6i9NPslfE4?t=2363) Angle of Attack indicator
• [@48:48](https://youtu.be/q6i9NPslfE4?t=2928) MCAS software, writing safety critical computer code
  • [@53:19](https://youtu.be/q6i9NPslfE4?t=3199) “Blood on the seats”
• [@58:48](https://youtu.be/q6i9NPslfE4?t=3528) Matt asks about “fly-by-wire” and MCAS. “Optional” safety features
• [@1:08:04](https://youtu.be/q6i9NPslfE4?t=4084) Testing safety, lack of technical scrutiny
• [@1:12:31](https://youtu.be/q6i9NPslfE4?t=4351) Simeon asks about the FAA’s relationship with Boeing
• [@1:15:05](https://youtu.be/q6i9NPslfE4?t=4505) Bryan: what are the lessons for other disciplines?
  • Peter: Valuing employee views. Tolerating bad news.
  • Adam: The engineering culture at Boeing was so arduous to build, and so quick to corrode
• [@1:18:39](https://youtu.be/q6i9NPslfE4?t=4719) Matt: relationship to F-35? Military vs commercial
• [@1:23:23](https://youtu.be/q6i9NPslfE4?t=5003) Gene Kim: CEO congressional testimony
• [@1:26:22](https://youtu.be/q6i9NPslfE4?t=5182) Passing certifications, alternatives to MCAS

If we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next Twitter space will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time; stay tuned to our Twitter feeds for details. We’d love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!