Rules for a reason

摘要

The legal row that will soon engulf the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and Boeing, which has yet to properly start, will be held in the United States as both the manufacturer and its overseeing regulator are based there. The lawyers will be sharpening their pencils with glee as both sides get set to field hundreds to join the fight. It has produced a set-piece occasion, because it now appears that Boeing was authorised to carry out a series of very significant changes to their new Boeing 737 MAX 8. In other words, the manufacturer was cleared to check its own product without the usual process involving the FAA, which controls paperwork certifying products as being fit for public transport use. This was not done, apparently - and, consequently, a large number of people were killed in two separate crashes. Subsequently, the CEO of Boeing was fired. The investigation will now have to decide if this 'hands off' approach by the FAA was legal.