Donald Trump has decided to weigh in on the crisis currently consuming Boeing in the most constructive way imaginable: tweeting that planes are just too damn complicated these days, and positing that you’d need to be bloody Albert Einstein or something to understand how to fly one.
Apparently, the scourge of automation in aeroplanes is something Trump has seen “all the time in many products.”
Airplanes are becoming far too complex to fly. Pilots are no longer needed, but rather computer scientists from MIT. I see it all the time in many products. Always seeking to go one unnecessary step further, when often old and simpler is far better. Split second decisions are….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 12, 2019
….needed, and the complexity creates danger. All of this for great cost yet very little gain. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want Albert Einstein to be my pilot. I want great flying professionals that are allowed to easily and quickly take control of a plane!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 12, 2019
Trump’s tweets follow the crash of a Boeing 737 MAX 8 which killed all 157 people aboard the Ethiopian Airlines flight, which has raised questions about the craft’s new software system. Investigators have yet to establish a concrete reason for the crash.
It is the second time in several months that one of these planes has crashed shortly after takeoff, leading a number of countries – including Australia – to ground them until further notice.
According to CNN, Trump spoke with Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg by phone shortly after he made these tweets, presumably so the executive could walk him through why aeroplanes need software.
It is not the first time Trump has expressed disdain for technology and automation. Back in 2016, he suggested that computers have just made life more complicated (he’s not entirely wrong, tbh):
I think that computers have complicated lives very greatly. The whole age of computer has made it where nobody knows exactly what’s going on. We have speed – we have a lot of other things, but I’m not sure we have the kind the security we need.
Yes, Mr President. We do have speed.
