A worker walks next to a Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplane parked at Boeing Field in Seattle on March 14, 2019.Ted S. Warren/The Associated Press
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Safety … as an upgrade
Re Crashed Max 8 Jets Lacked Safety Features That Boeing Sold As Extras (March 22): So, when you purchase a commercial aircraft from Boeing, some safety features are optional? Good to know when booking air travel.
Paul Bond, Toronto
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The most distressing revelation in the wake of the recent Boeing 737 Max tragedy is the multinational’s apparent nonchalance about its client relations and the safety of employees and the public.
While it is shocking to learn that the veteran pilot at the helm of the first 737 Max crash, a Lion Air flight last fall, was forced to refer to an operating manual in the critical moments before crashing, that is only part of the story. Now we know “a different crew on the same plane the evening before faced the same situation, but solved it after running through three checklists.” That crew did not pass on the information to the crew that crashed.
Boeing’s insistence that there is a documented procedure that crews are expected to memorize doesn’t bring back the 346 people who have perished, or instill confidence that the proper quality controls are in place, including the proper training of crews.
During the Second World War. the expression “coming in on a wing and a prayer” was popularized to describe damaged Allied bombers returning from missions with only a slim chance for survival. The black box from the Lion Air flight revealed a silent captain, and a final plea to a higher power from his first officer, in the final seconds of that doomed flight.
Sadly, for everyone involved, the Boeing 737 Max appears to have been taking off on a wing and a prayer.
Jeffrey Peckitt, Oakville, Ont.
Smell test, Mr. Ford
Re Police Line: Premier, Do Not Cross (editorial, March 22): The Ford government’s offer to make Ron Taverner head of the Ontario Provincial Police was bad enough.
It may not have broken any rules to try to have Premier Doug Ford’s buddy anointed as OPP Commissioner, but it did not pass the public’s smell test.
Then we learn of a former job offer made to Mr. Taverner – a request originating in the Premier’s office to create a job for him at the new Ontario Cannabis Store. No mention of a hiring process or what the new $270,000 job of “president of community affairs” should entail – other than 10-per-cent bonus pay.
What would be the requirements for bonus pay for an undefined job? Show up to work?
For a Government for the People, it sure seems to be a good thing if you are a friend/acquaintance of the Government of Ford.
K.R. O’Brien, Kingston
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The qualifications for the position of OPP Commissioner are mysteriously lowered; a close friend of the Premier, now able to apply, is appointed to the job, backing away only after a public outcry. But the Premier feels “completely vindicated” by the Integrity Commissioner’s report, which says he didn’t break the law in what the report called a “troubling” and “flawed” process.
What does the Premier think we are smoking? You need hard evidence to convict someone in a court of law and no doubt the Integrity Commissioner applied a similar standard. I’d wager that the result would be different in the court of public opinion.
Adam Plackett, Toronto
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Doug Ford has been busy proclaiming his vindication on the Taverner file. When Mr. Floatie, smiling on the page opposite your editorial, is done raising awareness about Victoria’s practice of dumping raw human sewage in the ocean, perhaps he could pay a visit to Mr. Ford at Queen’s Park.
Eric Pelletier, Toronto
MD@e-mail.com
Paul Taylor’s excellent article, Why Doctors Are So Reluctant To Use E-Mail With Patients (March 20), delves into a broader issue: the accessibility of physicians in the 21st century. It’s heartening to hear that an Ontario pilot project using an app will allow doctors to communicate by text, audio or video. Overwhelmingly, medical personnel are still tied to the fax machine, a 1980s technology.
Today, more and more people can work from home or remotely from anywhere. Why not in the health-care sector? Obviously, if you’re sick or it’s a medical emergency, you must see a physician. In so many other instances, however, being face to face with a doctor may not be necessary.
Physicians – especially those in family practice who’ve been squeezed financially by successive governments – should be allowed to bill reasonably for e-mail, text and telephone consultations.
We moved to Bracebridge two years ago from outside Mono. Our family physician practises in Orangeville, and we didn’t want to lose her. But any advance in technology that allows us to avoid a two-hour drive would be welcome.
Jim Hickman, Bracebridge, Ont.
Who but a Borg?
Re Stories For Unsettling Times (March 16): Totalitarianism can take many forms, and it seems that the more complex and tech-dependent our societies become, the more vulnerable we are to its emergence. The points Cory Doctorow makes about the “awfulness” inherent to proprietary tech, algorithmic discrimination, and digital rights management are evident everywhere – on the streets, in restaurants, at sporting events, on public transit.
So many people are hunched over handheld devices, oblivious to the people and world around them. Tech-addled, they are unaware of, and/or unconcerned about, the levels of control exerted on their lives by those who manage the flow of information, and the marketing forces that are so successful in convincing so many of us that we cannot live meaningful, enjoyable lives without this or that piece of hardware, apps, or service.
Star Trek had it right with the creation of The Borg, the part-human, part-robot cyborgs who sought to take over the universe. It’s kind of frightening to think they might already be among us, sitting next to us on the bus or at the nearby table in a restaurant.
Who else but a Borg could make their thumbs move that fast?
Ray Arnold, Richmond, B.C.
Not feeling the love-love
Re When It Comes To Sports, None Of Us Has The Right To Watch Anything On TV (Sports, March 20): According to Cathal Kelly, a lot of people complained they couldn’t watch Bianca Andreescu win at Indian Wells.
If I, a former Mennonite still a little terrified by technology, could find it, so could most people. Of course, I had a little help from Ms. Andreescu herself.
When I couldn’t find the match on TV, I googled her, which led to her Twitter account, where she told me DAZN’s Twitter feed was broadcasting it. I went there, paid nothing, and watched a tremendous match. (Thanks, Bianca!)
Now can Ms. Andreescu or Mr. Kelly please tell me where I can watch Winnipeg Jets games for free? And I mean legally – I’m still hampered by a bit of that Mennonite moral code.
Rudy Buller, Toronto