Comment by LastTrain
21 hours ago
The presence of bureaucracy doesn't mean safety isn't the main consideration, it also isn't a given that bureaucracy is a negative in this instance. The safety record speaks for itself: you are safer in a commercial airplane than just about anywhere else you can go.
And yet with the 747MAX we saw that bureaucrats at the FAA were heavily influenced by Boeing.
The adage is that “you can’t test quality into a product.” The FAA stands as a final test that you attempted to rigorously engineer for safety, but that is no substitute for a company culture that prioritizes safety. It’s like when you release a bug to production and you turn around and blame QA. Yes they missed it but so did you.