Anybody with an internet connection or TV has been deluged in "737MAX" panic - and rightly so considering the kluge that the MAX apparently is. Now comes another one: the switches needed to activate fire extinguishers and cut off fuel in the event of an engine fire on 787s turns out to fail silently over time, making it impossible to put out an engine fire in flight. Sure, no engine fires have happened, but it only takes one that you can't control.

I'm seeing pattern with the federal regulatory agencies, unfortunately. FAA is going along with Boeing - just a directive to check the switch once in a while and fix it if it sticks, not replace it now - and is only mostly doing its job on the MAX because everybody's watching, worldwide (Boeing could be forced out of business if things were to go very wrong). FRA's treatment of PTC seems less than urgent (NHTSA can remain unamused as much as it wants; it has no power to require anything). FCC salutes whenever somebody wants radio spectrum for "5G" wireless regardless of who is already there (broadcast or science anything is an easy target, even (most recently) weather satellite communications). EPA kills power plant regulations and anything else that might restrict use of coal. Begins to look like it really is government of the (corporate) people, by the (corporate) people, for the (corporate) people, and the real people take the hindmost position.