Comments on: Boeing’s fall from grace at NASA https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/boeings-fall-from-grace-at-nasa/ Mon, 13 Apr 2020 13:12:21 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Richard M https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/boeings-fall-from-grace-at-nasa/#comment-1078950 Mon, 13 Apr 2020 13:12:21 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=64891#comment-1078950 “Gerstenmaier had apparently given Boeing the highest marks routinely, and appeared to have lost his ability to look at the company objectively. ”

I do find it telling, though, that Gerst is now working for SpaceX.

Did Boeing even moot a job offer to him? It seems hard to believe they wouldn’t have..

I wonder if even Gerst wasn’t starting to sour on Boeing in his final years at NASA.

Boeing stands desperately in need of a complete housecleaning.

]]> By: DougSpace https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/boeings-fall-from-grace-at-nasa/#comment-1078948 Mon, 13 Apr 2020 05:35:36 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=64891#comment-1078948 I agree with Ray Van Dune’s reading. Also, I would point out that SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy is the right size and price for this specific mission. Boeing’s failure here wasn’t just a matter of not putting enough effort in getting their wording on their submission right but the primary fact that their technology is not well suited for this mission. I doubt that they would have won the contract regardless of how amazingly they had written their bid. And I suspect that NASA’s decision went through a fairly objective process and wasn’t primarily based upon how someone felt about Boeing.

]]> By: Ray Van Dune https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/boeings-fall-from-grace-at-nasa/#comment-1078934 Sun, 12 Apr 2020 15:22:37 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=64891#comment-1078934 If someone writes a tell-all book about the murder of Boeing, here are some advance spoilers:
1. The killer: Phil Condit
2. The weapon: McDonnell-Douglas

]]> By: Col Beausabre https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/boeings-fall-from-grace-at-nasa/#comment-1078930 Sun, 12 Apr 2020 12:12:12 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=64891#comment-1078930 Boeing specializes in “financial engineering”, not in cutting and bending metal. They were taken over by financiers who destroyed its engineering culture. I say this with sadness as the owner of an MBA with a concentration in Finance

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/11/how-boeing-lost-its-bearings/602188/

]]> By: Blair Ivey https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/boeings-fall-from-grace-at-nasa/#comment-1078913 Sat, 11 Apr 2020 22:40:52 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=64891#comment-1078913 Considering Boeing’s history of aviation success: 707 and the 700-series of passenger jets, the B-52 has been bringing the noise for 65 years, and the 747 recently passed 50 years in service, the fall has been painful to watch. I lived in Seattle when the company moved to Chicago, and everyone knew it was a Bad Idea. So bad, that Boeing is a business case study in how to wreck a company. I do not know what Boeing specializes in these days, but building stuff that works isn’t it.

]]> By: Wodun https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/boeings-fall-from-grace-at-nasa/#comment-1078910 Sat, 11 Apr 2020 21:57:25 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=64891#comment-1078910 I understood it the same way Ray Van Dune did.

Boeing could have done a better job, maybe they didn’t want to work on this project.

]]> By: Robert Zimmerman https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/boeings-fall-from-grace-at-nasa/#comment-1078909 Sat, 11 Apr 2020 21:08:13 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=64891#comment-1078909 In reply to Ray Van Dune.

Ray Van Dune: If I was NASA and had gotten as bad a submission from Boeing as this critique suggests, I would make it very clear that I have no intention of considering any of their later submissions seriously, unless those later bids show some effort at serious change.

And I really think this is exactly what NASA was doing here. They are not telling Boeing they will never do business with them again. They are telling them that to get a contract, they have to get their act together.

]]> By: Ray Van Dune https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/boeings-fall-from-grace-at-nasa/#comment-1078906 Sat, 11 Apr 2020 20:00:49 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=64891#comment-1078906 Yes, indeed Mr. Zimmerman, it would, and it should!

But I think it is inconceivable that NASA would in effect say “We will no longer do business with Boeing.”, even if that’s exactly the way they feel!

]]> By: Robert Zimmerman https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/boeings-fall-from-grace-at-nasa/#comment-1078905 Sat, 11 Apr 2020 19:25:48 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=64891#comment-1078905 In reply to Ray Van Dune.

Ray Van Dune: Maybe so, but if I was a bigwig at Boeing right now this conclusion by NASA would scare the bejeebers out of me.

]]> By: Robert Zimmerman https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/boeings-fall-from-grace-at-nasa/#comment-1078904 Sat, 11 Apr 2020 19:23:31 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=64891#comment-1078904 In reply to Phill O.

Phill O: Thank you. Fixed.

]]> By: Ray Van Dune https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/boeings-fall-from-grace-at-nasa/#comment-1078903 Sat, 11 Apr 2020 19:22:47 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=64891#comment-1078903 #1, I assumed the typo meant “They were likely not used to TOUGH questioning”.

]]> By: Ray Van Dune https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/boeings-fall-from-grace-at-nasa/#comment-1078902 Sat, 11 Apr 2020 19:20:11 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=64891#comment-1078902 “… I have decided to eliminate Boeing from further award consideration.”

I think it is inaccurate to read this as “NASA will no longer consider Boeing in future contract bidding”, as the context of Boeing’s elimination seems limited to the competition in question.

]]> By: Phill O https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/boeings-fall-from-grace-at-nasa/#comment-1078901 Sat, 11 Apr 2020 19:14:48 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=64891#comment-1078901 Third last paragraph

“They were likely not used to touch questioning”

such

Sorry for nitpicking: does show you are being read!

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