tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post1523898057086723084..comments2024-03-28T13:39:27.601-07:00Comments on DSHR's Blog: 737 MAX UngroundingDavid.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-16481126586697631682024-03-08T12:49:36.294-08:002024-03-08T12:49:36.294-08:00A bad week for Boeing's PR reported in United ...A bad week for Boeing's PR reported in <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-08/united-plane-veers-off-runway-in-third-boeing-incident-this-week" rel="nofollow"><i>United Plane Veers Off Runway in Third Boeing Mishap of Week</i></a> by Mary Schlangenstein and Alan Levin:<br /><br />"A United Airlines Holdings Inc. aircraft ran off the taxiway into a grassy area after landing at Houston on Friday, marking the third headline-grabbing incident this week involving the carrier’s Boeing Co. planes.<br />...<br />Friday’s incident involves a 737 Max built four years ago that has been in service for less than a year. It follows the mid-air loss of a tire from a United Boeing 777-200 Thursday, just after the plane took off from San Francisco on a flight to Osaka, Japan, and an engine failure on a United flight from Houston to Fort Myers, Florida, earlier this week. <br /><br />The plane in the Houston-to-Florida flight had to make an emergency landing after one of its engines began belching flames 10 minutes after takeoff. The engine ingested plastic bubble wrap that had been left on the airfield prior to departure, according to United."<br /><br />That's an older 737, a 777 and a 737 MAX. Then there is another 737 MAX in Alan Levin's <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-07/boeing-737-max-under-investigation-over-recent-rudder-failure" rel="nofollow"><i>Boeing 737 Max Recent Rudder Failure Under Investigation</i></a>:<br /><br />"Pilots on a United Airlines Holdings Inc. 737 Max 8 said the pedals that control the rudder, a key device to help maneuver a plane, became stuck as they touched down at Newark Liberty International Airport on Feb. 6, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report Thursday."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-12995865602291118982024-02-12T06:23:57.023-08:002024-02-12T06:23:57.023-08:00Brian Potter's A Cycle of Misery: The Business...Brian Potter's <a href="https://www.construction-physics.com/p/a-cycle-of-misery-the-business-of" rel="nofollow"><i>A Cycle of Misery: The Business of Building Commercial Aircraft</i></a> looks at the whole industry, not just Boeing:<br /><br />"Nearly every source points to the same instigating event: the 1997 merger with McDonnell-Douglas, which changed Boeing from an engineering-driven company focused on building the best airplanes possible to one which focused overwhelmingly on financials and stock price.<br /><br />As far as I can tell, this characterization is accurate. And yet it misses a big part of the picture: the brutal structure of the commercial aircraft industry that drives companies like Boeing to create things like the 737 MAX (an update to a 50-year-old airplane) instead of creating a new model from scratch. By unpacking how the commercial aircraft industry works, we can better understand Boeing’s behavior."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-64442908927554507942024-02-12T06:17:16.870-08:002024-02-12T06:17:16.870-08:00Two really good YouTube videos on the crisis at Bo...Two really good YouTube videos on the crisis at Boeing:<br /><br />- <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URoVKPVDKPU" rel="nofollow"><i>How Boeing Lost Its Way</i></a> from Wendover Productions with help from <i>Air Currents</i> describes how concentrating on design and final assembly while outsourcing manufacturing to subcontractors who had almost zero negotiating leverage so were losing money was such a disaster.<br /><br />- Mentour Pilot's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ep79Q9F4cs%22" rel="nofollow"><i> Is this THE END of the Boeing 737?!</i></a> is a history of the repeated efforts to update the 737. Starting at 20:07 he covers the deadly threat a stretched Airbus 220 poses to the 737, and how this will force Boeing to finally develop a clean-sheet 737 replacement, which they can neither afford to do, or not to do.<br /><br /> David.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-17310745424056689302024-02-12T06:06:00.265-08:002024-02-12T06:06:00.265-08:00Freddy Brewster's The Hole In Boeing’s Inspect...Freddy Brewster's <a href="https://www.levernews.com/the-hole-in-boeings-inspection-program/" rel="nofollow"><i>The Hole In Boeing’s Inspection Program</i></a> is a detailed account of how Boeing's lobbying gradually eased the FAA out of overseeing safety by delegating "96%" of the work to Boeing employees, who feared reprisals for reporting problems:<br /><br />"For the past 15 years, the government has allowed Boeing to conduct its own inspections related to many manufacturing and safety issues — and during that time, government reports, experts, and whistleblowers have issued more than a dozen warnings that the self-inspection program has led to serious production issues and contributed to two fatal crashes.<br /><br />During much of that period, federal regulators shifted an ever-larger amount of the plane-certification process to Boeing, even as the plane manufacturer <a href="https://www.levernews.com/profits-and-payouts-over-passenger_safety/" rel="nofollow">cut production corners</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dtov7R51E4k" rel="nofollow">pledged</a> to focus on “removing layers that help us be faster.”"David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-14334751997905085582024-01-24T07:18:54.755-08:002024-01-24T07:18:54.755-08:00A pseudonymous Boeing employee has a pair of must-...A pseudonymous Boeing employee has a pair of must-read comments [<a href="https://leehamnews.com/2024/01/15/unplanned-removal-installation-inspection-procedure-at-boeing/#comment-509962" rel="nofollow">one</a>, <a href="https://leehamnews.com/2024/01/15/unplanned-removal-installation-inspection-procedure-at-boeing/#comment-509963" rel="nofollow">two</a>] on Leeham News' post <a href="https://leehamnews.com/2024/01/15/unplanned-removal-installation-inspection-procedure-at-boeing/" rel="nofollow"><i>“Unplanned” removal, installation inspection procedure at Boeing</i></a> that reveal the appalling state of Boeing's quality management now the company is really McDonnell-Douglas.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-87528434570479911502024-01-12T14:23:02.839-08:002024-01-12T14:23:02.839-08:00Indrajit Samarajiva's The Boeing 737 MAX and T...Indrajit Samarajiva's <a href="https://indi.ca/the-boeing-737-max-and-the-crash-of-capitalism/" rel="nofollow"><i>The Boeing 737 MAX and The Crash Of Capitalism</i></a> is w orthy rant:<br /><br />"If anything symbolizes the suck of late-stage capitalism, it’s the ‘door’ blowing off a <a href="https://avherald.com/h?article=51354f78&opt=0" rel="nofollow">737 MAX</a>, sucking a boy’s clothes out, and falling into a schoolteacher’s backyard. These planes fucking suck, but people have to keep riding around in them because they’re somebody’s investment. The 737 MAX is simply too big to fail, despite being an obvious failure, over and over again.<br /><br />America doesn’t make things anymore, and neither does Boeing. They just rebrand, reboot, and loot the corpse of the 20th century until it’s unrecognizable. The Boeing 737 is a 50-year-old airframe that some marketing idiot just slapped the word MAX on, like it’s a flavor of Mountain Dew. They might as well call it the 737 EXTREME, which is the experience of riding one. The thing has crashed itself, blown out doors midair, and the engine can <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/boeing-wants-faa-to-exempt-max-7-from-safety-rules-to-get-it-in-the-air/" rel="nofollow">melt itself</a> if the pilot isn’t careful. These are not isolated problems, they are simply the downstream effects of having stupid fucking ideas in the first place."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-71412064550589829352024-01-06T16:41:38.518-08:002024-01-06T16:41:38.518-08:00Mary Schlangenstein, Julie Johnsson, Siddharth Vik...Mary Schlangenstein, Julie Johnsson, Siddharth Vikram Philip, and Ryan Beene report that <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-06/alaska-airlines-flight-makes-emergency-landing-in-portland-fox" rel="nofollow"><i>FAA Orders Temporary Grounding of Some 737 Max Jets After Mishap</i></a>:<br /><br />"The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the temporary grounding and inspections of some Boeing Co. 737 Max 9 aircraft, a day after a fuselage section on a brand-new Alaska Airlines jet blew out shortly after takeoff, leaving a gaping hole.<br /><br />The move affects about 171 planes worldwide, according to a statement by the FAA. Alaska, the world’s second biggest operator of the type, had already grounded its Max 9 fleet in the wake of Friday’s incident after takeoff from Portland, Oregon. United Airlines Holdings Inc., the model’s top operator, also took some of the jets out of service for inspections, while Aeromexico also said it will ground its Max 9 planes for checks."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-2109579948193914092024-01-06T06:34:20.419-08:002024-01-06T06:34:20.419-08:00Thomas Mackintosh and Kathryn Armstrong report Ala...Thomas Mackintosh and Kathryn Armstrong report <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67899564" rel="nofollow"><i>Alaska Airlines grounds 737 Max 9 planes after section blows out mid-air</i></a>:<br /><br />"A passenger plane lost a section of its fuselage in mid-air forcing it to make an emergency landing in the US state of Oregon.<br /><br />The Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 turned back minutes into its flight to California after an outer section, including a window, fell off on Friday.<br /><br />There were 177 passengers and crew on board and it landed safely in Portland.<br /><br />The airline said it would temporarily ground all 65 of its 737 Max 9 aircraft to conduct inspections."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-4549810453653606052024-01-06T06:31:24.864-08:002024-01-06T06:31:24.864-08:00Dominic Gates reports that Boeing wants FAA to ex...Dominic Gates reports that <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/boeing-wants-faa-to-exempt-max-7-from-safety-rules-to-get-it-in-the-air/" rel="nofollow"><i> Boeing wants FAA to exempt MAX 7 from safety rules to get it in the air </i></a>:<br /><br />"Little noticed, the Federal Aviation Administration in December published a Boeing request for an exemption from key safety standards on the 737 MAX 7 — the still-uncertified smallest member of Boeing’s newest jet family.<br /><br />Since August, earlier models of the MAX currently flying passengers in the U.S. have had to limit use of the jet’s engine anti-ice system after Boeing discovered a defect in the system with potentially catastrophic consequences.<br /><br />The flaw could cause the inlet at the front end of the pod surrounding the engine — known as a nacelle — to break and fall off."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-79494283696811589682023-09-17T07:53:22.613-07:002023-09-17T07:53:22.613-07:00Mentour Pilot's NEW Problems with the B737MAX!...Mentour Pilot's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmJgweFmoxs" rel="nofollow"><i>NEW Problems with the B737MAX!</i></a> is a very clear explanation of the two problems holding up 737 production, the attachment of the vertical stabilizer, and the "snowmen" holes in the rear bulkhead, and their implications for Boeing and Spirit.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-81985274951670738872023-08-24T07:03:32.394-07:002023-08-24T07:03:32.394-07:00John Ostrower reports that Boeing and Spirit grapp...John Ostrower reports that <a href="https://theaircurrent.com/aircraft-production/boeing-spirit-737-max-aft-pressure-bulkhead-drilling/" rel="nofollow"><i>Boeing and Spirit grapple with newly discovered 737 Max quality issue</i></a>:<br /><br />"Boeing has inspected multiple fuselages and found some aircraft with hundreds of misaligned and duplicated holes. These holes, called “snowmen” because of their elongated shape of two overlapping holes of differing size, were filled with fasteners and passed quality inspections at Spirit before being shipped by rail to Boeing."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-44072480292127478392023-06-03T07:05:03.768-07:002023-06-03T07:05:03.768-07:00It isn't just the 737 MAX, the 787 and the USA...It isn't just the 737 MAX, the 787 and the USAF tanker, as Eric Berger reports in <a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/06/to-keep-starliner-flying-boeing-must-make-some-hard-choices/" rel="nofollow"><i>To keep Starliner flying, Boeing must make some hard choices</i></a>:<br /><br />"In recent years, both of the two top leaders of NASA in 2009—former Administrator Charlie Bolden and Deputy Administrator Lori Garver—have pointed to Boeing's entry into the commercial crew program as essential to its long-term success.<br /><br />"Boeing entering the commercial crew program meant that you got a lot more support from Congress because they tend to have a very robust lobbying program," Garver said last year<br />...<br />To date, Boeing has taken nearly $900 million in charges against its earnings for setbacks in Starliner's development, and this latest delay, which is likely to take at least six months to resolve, if not much longer, will undoubtedly push those charges higher. It is difficult to see Boeing ever making money on Starliner after nearly 14 years of involvement in commercial crew."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-81431888086842870032023-04-16T08:47:07.251-07:002023-04-16T08:47:07.251-07:00Boeing’s New 737 Woes Are an Ugly Plot Twist in a ...<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-15/boeing-s-new-737-woes-are-an-ugly-plot-twist-in-a-comeback-tale" rel="nofollow"><i>Boeing’s New 737 Woes Are an Ugly Plot Twist in a Comeback Tale</i></a> by Julie Johnsson reports that:<br /><br />"The new 737 problem involves two of the eight fittings where the jet’s vertical stabilizer is attached to the rear of its fuselage. A contractor, Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc., discovered that since 2019 two of its suppliers for the fittings — but not a third — had at times used non-standard manufacturing processes, according to Cai Von Rumohr, an analyst at Cowen & Co.<br /><br />Spirit assembles most of the 737’s aluminum frame on Boeing’s former Wichita, Kansas, campus. <br /><br />Boeing and Spirit said they’ve determined, along with the Federal Aviation Administration, there’s no safety threat, meaning they’ve avoided a major crisis."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-11373458006940540292022-10-23T12:54:18.484-07:002022-10-23T12:54:18.484-07:00David Shepardson's U.S. judge: Passengers in f...David Shepardson's <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-judge-passengers-fatal-boeing-737-max-crashes-crime-victims-2022-10-21/" rel="nofollow"><i>U.S. judge: Passengers in fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes are 'crime victims'</i></a> doesn't sound good for Boeing:<br /><br />"In December, some crash victims' relatives said the U.S. Justice Department violated their legal rights when it struck a January 2021 deferred prosecution agreement with the planemaker over two crashes that killed 346 people.<br /><br />The families argued the government "lied and violated their rights through a secret process" and asked U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor to rescind Boeing's immunity from criminal prosecution - which was part of the $2.5 billion agreement - and order the planemaker publicly arraigned on felony charges.<br /><br />O'Connor ruled on Friday that "in sum, but for Boeing's criminal conspiracy to defraud the (Federal Aviation Administration), 346 people would not have lost their lives in the crashes."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-30038633737062707122022-07-09T07:24:49.141-07:002022-07-09T07:24:49.141-07:00Dominic Gates reports that Boeing CEO threatens to...Dominic Gates reports that <a href="https://www.jpost.com/business-and-innovation/all-news/article-711568" rel="nofollow"><i>Boeing CEO threatens to cancel 737 MAX 10 unless Congress acts</i></a>:<br /><br />"Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said he’s ready to cancel the 737 MAX 10 program if Congress doesn’t extend a regulatory deadline that would allow the jet to enter service without an upgrade to the 737 crew alerting system.<br /><br />Canceling plans for the largest member of the MAX family — which has about 640 orders with prospects for more, including from Delta — would be a big blow to the MAX program that would curtail future job growth at the Renton assembly plant.<br /><br />It would leave Boeing with no viable competitive plane against the successful Airbus A321neo."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-67938958441771292852022-07-03T16:26:14.663-07:002022-07-03T16:26:14.663-07:00Boeing 737 MAX mid-air emergencies revealed as US ...<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-27/boeing-737-max-in-mid-air-emergencies-as-us-set-to-launch-probe/101175214" rel="nofollow"><i>Boeing 737 MAX mid-air emergencies revealed as US agency prepares to probe production issues</i></a> by Kathryn Diss, Kevin Nguyen and Meghna Bali reveals that 737 MAXs:<br /><br />"have experienced at least six mid-air emergencies and dozens of groundings in the year after an extensive probe cleared them to fly.<br /><br />The incidents, pulled from US government air safety databases, are among more than 60 mid-flight problems reported by pilots in the 12 months after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recertified the plane's airworthiness in late 2020.<br />...<br />In one incident in December 2021, a United Airlines pilot declared a mayday after the system controlling the pitch and altitude of the plane started malfunctioning.<br /><br />An ABC investigation can also reveal the US government will announce a new audit examining Boeing's production oversight of the 737 MAX planes."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-60059060604030672092022-05-17T06:18:31.112-07:002022-05-17T06:18:31.112-07:00Chris Isidore reports that Boeing needs to get its...Chris Isidore reports that <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/16/business/ryanair-ceo-boeing-attack/index.html" rel="nofollow"><i>Boeing needs to get its 's*** together,' Ryanair CEO says</i></a>:<br /><br />"The CEO of Ryanair let loose a scathing, obscenity-laden attack on Boeing management Monday, saying company executives need either an immediate "reboot, or a boot up the a**."<br /><br />"At the moment we think Boeing management is running around like headless chickens, not able to sell aircraft, and then even the aircraft they deliver, they're not able to deliver them on time," said Michael O'Leary, CEO of Ryanair, Europe's largest discount carrier, which has ordered nearly 400 jets from Boeing since 2010."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-39219262187328999952022-02-23T06:33:06.740-08:002022-02-23T06:33:06.740-08:00Bob Lefsetz provides another recommendation for Do...Bob Lefsetz provides another recommendation for <a href="https://lefsetz.com/wordpress/2022/02/19/the-boeing-documentary/" rel="nofollow"><i>Downfall: The Case Against Boeing</i></a>:<br /><br />"this one film is going to dent Boeing in a way years of news stories has not. But the reason I watched the film was the personal recommendations from my readers. The rest of the hype just flew right by me.<br /><br />It shouldn’t fly right by you.<br /><br />Watch this."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-30308116472673752432022-02-22T15:49:19.270-08:002022-02-22T15:49:19.270-08:00Charles Bramesco's ‘All those agencies failed ...Charles Bramesco's <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/feb/22/downfall-the-case-against-boeing-netflix-documentary-737-max" rel="nofollow"><i>‘All those agencies failed us’: inside the terrifying downfall of Boeing</i></a> reviews Rory Kennedy's Netflix documentary <i>Downfall: The Case Against Boeing</i> (trailer <a href="https://youtu.be/vt-IJkUbAxY" rel="nofollow">here</a>):<br /><br />“It’s the profit-driven running of companies into the ground,” Kennedy says. “You can look at the energy industry, fossil fuels, the destruction of the environment, all for the sake of profit. You can see it in healthcare, media. Part of my interest in making this film was the hope that it could rise to something bigger. We need to be skeptical of all these industries. There were many decades when Boeing did extraordinary things by focusing on excellence and safety and ingenuity. Those three virtues were seen as the key to profit. It could work, and beautifully. And then they were taken over by a group that decided Wall Street was the end-all, be-all. There needs to be a balance in play, so you have to elect representatives that hold the companies responsible for the public interest, rather than just lining their own pocketbooks.”David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-65393861435775879902022-01-30T16:42:57.788-08:002022-01-30T16:42:57.788-08:00Chris Isidore reports that Boeing posts massive ch...Chris Isidore reports that <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/26/investing/boeing-losses/index.html" rel="nofollow"><i>Boeing posts massive charge for 787 Dreamliner problems, sending losses soaring</i></a>:<br /><br />"Boeing has essentially been unable to deliver the widebody 787 jet for a year because of quality control issues.<br /><br />The company said it will have to pay $3.5 billion to compensate customers for the delayed deliveries. It delivered only 14 of the jets in 2021, and none since June. It also said the delays would increase the costs of producing the plane by an estimated $2 billion, with most of those costs coming at the end of this year. It booked $285 million of those increased costs in the just completed quarter.<br />...<br />The charges caused the company to report a net loss of $4.3 billion for the year, which is actually an improvement from the $11.9 billion it lost in 2020. Its core loss, excluding special items, came to $4.1 billion for the year, reversing a narrow profit on that basis in the first nine months of 2021. It's a core quarterly loss on that basis of $4.5 billion. That was far worse than analysts had forecast."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-20125725962820204772021-12-15T06:50:17.888-08:002021-12-15T06:50:17.888-08:00Thomas Claburn's After deadly 737 Max crashes,...Thomas Claburn's <a href="https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/15/boeing_737_max_senate_report/" rel="nofollow"><i>After deadly 737 Max crashes, damning whistleblower report reveals sidelined engineers, scarcity of expertise, more</i></a> discusses the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation <a href="https://www.commerce.senate.gov/services/files/48E3E2DE-6DFC-4602-BADF-8926F551B670" rel="nofollow">report</a>:<br /><br />"It is based on testimony from seven industry whistleblowers from Boeing, GE, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).<br />...<br />It details testimony from Ed Pierson, a former Boeing senior manager, who described 13 other reported safety incidents with the 737 Max that did not result in any loss of life. He observed:<br /><br />'Most shocking of all, 11 of these 13 safety incidents occurred in the five months between the Lion Air crash and the Ethiopian Airlines crash. Thus 2 safety incidents per month.'<br />...<br />Richard Kucera, a former GE Aviation engineer, recounted "being placed in an untenable position where he was responsible for conducting engine conformity tests on behalf of [the] FAA, while also being charged with preparing GE engines to pass these same tests." And Boeing personnel, it's said, faced "relentless" schedule pressure with regard to the 737 Max."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-59934039028871227052021-12-03T14:11:28.234-08:002021-12-03T14:11:28.234-08:00It isn't just Boeing that has quality issues, ...It isn't just Boeing that has quality issues, although these are less serious. <a href="https://airinsight.com/qatar-airways-criticizes-lack-of-progress-on-a350-paint-issue/" rel="nofollow"><i>Qatar Airways criticizes lack of progress on A350 paint issue</i></a> by Richard Schuurman reports that:<br /><br />"The issue has been lingering on since early this year and was revealed by Reuters in May. In August, Qatar release a statement, publicly condemning Airbus for failing to address the problem in a proper way. Qatar noted that paint on the upper fuselage has degraded “at an accelerated rate”, exposing the composite structure underneath to potential corrosion. The Qatar aviation regulatory agency instructed Qatar Airways to ground the affected aircraft, which in August were thirteen A350s but which according to Al Baker are now twenty."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-90462661711008264252021-12-03T14:04:01.803-08:002021-12-03T14:04:01.803-08:00In Built to Lie, Maureen Tkacik reviews Flying Bli...In <a href="https://prospect.org/culture/books/built-to-lie-boeing-737-max-disaster-robison/" rel="nofollow"><i>Built to Lie</i></a>, Maureen Tkacik reviews <a href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780385546492?aff=TAPBookClub" rel="nofollow"><i>Flying Blind: The 737 MAX Tragedy and the Fall of Boeing</i></a> by Peter Robison.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-76888888299672648962021-11-23T11:29:15.148-08:002021-11-23T11:29:15.148-08:00And another Boeing problem. Dominic Gates reports ...And another Boeing problem. Dominic Gates reports that <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/faa-says-boeing-is-appointing-people-lacking-expertise-to-oversee-airplane-certification/" rel="nofollow"><i>FAA says Boeing is appointing people lacking expertise to oversee airplane certification</i></a>:<br /><br />"The Federal Aviation Administration this summer found Boeing had appointed engineers to oversee airplane certification work on behalf of the agency who lack the required technical expertise and often “are not meeting FAA expectations.”<br /><br />An FAA letter of complaint to Boeing last week, the latest in a series this year from the local office that oversees the jet maker, states that many of the Boeing safety appointees the agency interviewed this summer did not measure up.<br /><br />The need for those recent appointments arose because during the downturn from the pandemic Boeing offered early retirement to many more senior FAA-authorized safety engineers."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-71023360302758230312021-11-23T09:42:39.945-08:002021-11-23T09:42:39.945-08:00A quick update on Boeing's accumulating incomp...A quick update on Boeing's accumulating incompetence.<br /><br />1) <a href="https://simpleflying.com/boeing-787-titanium-plates-issue/" rel="nofollow"><i>Titanium Plates: Boeing Up Against A New 787 Dreamliner Issue</i></a> by Andrew Curran:<br /><br />"The plane builder says some titanium parts in some planes built over the last three years are not as strong as they should be."<br /><br />2) <a href="https://www.arcamax.com/business/businessnews/s-2598281?fs" rel="nofollow"><i>FAA memo reveals more Boeing 787 manufacturing defects, including contamination of carbon fiber composites</i></a> by Dominic Gates:<br /><br />"The FAA memo, which was circulated internally Monday and reviewed by the Seattle Times, points to new concerns about a previously unreported defect caused by contamination of the carbon fiber composite material during fabrication of the large structures that make up the 787’s wing, fuselage and tail.<br /><br />The memo also adds detail about the small out-of-tolerance gaps that have been discovered throughout the airplane structure: at the joins of the large fuselage sections, at a forward pressure bulkhead and in the structure surrounding the passenger and cargo doors."<br /><br />3) <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/boeing-employee-safety-independence-under-review-by-u-s-faa/ar-AANFfVu" rel="nofollow"><i>Boeing Employee Safety Independence Under Review by U.S. FAA</i></a> by Adam Levin:<br /><br />"U.S. aviation regulators are opening a new review of Boeing Co. after a survey of company engineers found a sizable percentage said they couldn’t raise safety concerns without interference. <br /><br />A survey conducted by the Federal Aviation Administration from May through July found that 35% of Boeing employees interviewed raised issues of conflicts of interest and a lack of independence, according to a letter to the company released by the agency Tuesday."<br /><br />And, problem at the FAA not Boeing:<br /><br />4) <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Travel/wireStory/investigator-faa-training-inspectors-qualified-65835114" rel="nofollow"><i>Investigator says FAA training inspectors weren't qualified</i></a> by David Koenig:<br /><br />"Federal investigators say some safety inspectors who helped set pilot-training standards for the Boeing 737 Max were unqualified and the Federal Aviation Administration seemed to mislead Congress about their competency."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.com