Dear Editor,
Boeing, America’s iconic aircraft manufacturer, had the world at its feet. Literally and for a long time, too. And now in the very short space of a few months, its own world threatens to turn stormy and upside down. There are some lessons to be learned from this in the local arena.
Two plane crashes and over three hundred dead have triggered alarms, panics, and a rush for the exits by one country after another; they all had nice juicy purchase orders pending with the company. More are sure to follow with outright cancellation or, at the least, sitting on their hands until this turbulence blows over and the bright skies of confidence and trust returns; they are unanswerable to huge populations. There is fear of the future and of getting on these ill-fated planes. The latest is that passengers at New York’s La Guardia Airport are terrified at being anywhere near to the now frightening 737 Max 8 planes. Unsurprisingly, the stock took a huge hit in the markets; but nobody is counting those losses, when a slew of lawsuits could be in the offing for either negligence or coverup; or just ugly old-fashioned company (and capitalist) greed leading to unacceptable catastrophes. After all, hundreds are dead and somebody has got to pay for the mistakes that are now slowly coming to light.
This is despite the positive corporate speak; the bland reassurances meant to be soothing. Increasingly, there are falling on deaf ears and hardening hearts. For there were developments that point to egregious failures on the part of Boeing during the manufacturing stages that could come back to haunt. These are not merely individual passenger families that have to be dealt with, but governments from across the geographical and political spectrums. Those states have a whole lot of unhappy and angry mourners, who sense that the things that went wrong should not have had to come to that point.
First, Boeing fast tracked the production of these 737 Max 8 to meet burgeoning demand: it increased its finished aircraft output by 25% in a very compressed time horizon. In view of the intricate engineering, and numerous components (tens of thousands) that go into the production of a modern-day plane, that increase alone raises troubling questions as to the degree of care, quality control, and management priorities. Second, did the zeal to make timely delivery in response to an abundance of business lead to the cutting of corners, and a force-feeding of process? Did such corporate zeal transform into a rush to make good on deliveries at any cost? The hours of work, the skills of new recruits, and the thoroughness of checks and triple checks are all going to be favoured with the severest and the most critical of scrutiny.
Third, the communications from the company about problematic sensors and related training materials indicate, in these early days, disconnect; and to some extent, a lack of urgency, if not complete frankness. Those communications were limited, and they were almost distant sounding. Even now. Fourth, the timing and clarity of the communications, and what should have been an issue of the first magnitude gives the impression of a greater focus on company haziness and cleverness, than on the fact that there is a problem and there is listening and addressing; the dissemination of information (life-threatening and now life-ending) appeared to be reluctant and haphazard, even cagey. Fifth, the question naturally arises: what did the power people at Boeing know and when did they know it? Another question: why were/are they not more forthcoming? Sixth, did the competitive dogfight with Airbus lead to the be all and end all of ousting that French company? Did it take precedence over everything else, even through the fatal flaws now widely suspected? The fatalities are there: irrefutable and final.
Editor, this is more than about shareholdings and corporate supremacy or fallout. This is about dead people and grieving families. There is no price to that. And the reason why I write today of what I perceive to be a first order crisis looming for Boeing is that its actions furnish a lesson (many lessons) for Guyanese political leaders at a most demanding time-arguably, what is shaping up to the most demanding of all-in the short history of this country. Boeing did not listen; similarly, Guyanese leaders do not. Boeing overpromised and underdelivered; so do Guyanese leaders. Boeing knew something and shared nothing; Guyanese politicians provide a perfect replica. Boeing hedges and skirts and withholds; those are the ingrained characteristics of Guyanese leaders.
No matter the degree of disingenuousness, the trajectory of rhetoric, the desecration of what is accurate and truthful, a hard reckoning comes. I have observed this, all honest and principled Guyanese have, of leaders misleading and mishearing and mismanaging one cataclysmic situation after another, to the detriment of this society. Boeing did so and people are gone. Many have left this earthly pale under clear skies, but in the darkest of circumstances. Now the company will have to pay a steep price; perhaps, an unbearable one. There are many lessons for all Guyanese political leaders: be open; be receptive; be simple; be honest; be forthcoming. Be in front of what matters. Maybe these things are of no premium in this unholy and dishonourable land, but dismissal and purposeful abandonment of them do come back with a vengeance to incinerate such hubris. I think it is too late for any lessons to be learned here. Yet I had to venture in the expressing and appealing.
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
