General Aviation Thread

[Terran]

That again would be on South West airlines as they do the maintenance.

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

The 737-800 was part of the NG version so this is predating the MAX. An engine fire issue should be on either the airline or the Engine maker. The Engine on the NG is the CFM 56 series made by CFM the Franco American joint. That series is also used on any number of Airbus planes and the Boeing P8, E7 and other military versions of the 737 NG line.

The CFM56-7 is a reliable engine. Theoretically it is still possible that something from the intake or fuselage got ingested in the engine, but like you said it can be also be a problem caused by CFMI or the airline.

That again would be on South West airlines as they do the maintenance.

It can indeed be the case that someone forgot to close the engine cowlings properly during inspection.
But still it is not impossible that the Boeing lost it's engine cowling because cracks caused by a manufacturing problem.

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

"Boeing whistleblower allegations are confronting the company with claims that its 787 Dreamliner aircraft possess structural defects potentially leading to disintegration after thousands of flights."

This sounds really bad. Also for Boeing.

Could 'Break Up': Boeing Whistleblower Alleges Structural Flaws in 787 Dreamliner - Aviation for Aviators

Boeing whistleblower allegations are confronting the company with claims that its 787 aircraft could break up after thousands of flights.

aviationforaviators.com

And because of extreme weather in Dubai, they all now have wet feet.
Dubai airport diverts arrival flights amid heavy rain and floods - YouTube

Intense Flooding Hits UAE, Dubai International Airport Diverts Flights | 10 News First - YouTube

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour tells the senate about Boeings manufacturing shortcuts and safety violations.

It's indeed unbelievable that one of the worldleaders of aviation totally doesn't care about quality and safety and only prioritize financial profits.

 

[swerve]

"Boeing whistleblower allegations are confronting the company with claims that its 787 Dreamliner aircraft possess structural defects potentially leading to disintegration after thousands of flights."

This sounds really bad. Also for Boeing.

Could 'Break Up': Boeing Whistleblower Alleges Structural Flaws in 787 Dreamliner - Aviation for Aviators

Boeing whistleblower allegations are confronting the company with claims that its 787 aircraft could break up after thousands of flights.

aviationforaviators.com

My wife & I flew home from Japan in a 787 two weeks ago . . . eeek!

Flew out in an A350, though.

 

[swerve]

The problem is that even with the Issues Boeing has or rather because of the issues it’s hard to imagine that the Boeing board has people able to take the positions.
....
——————
Boeing is suffering a chain of issues that can be traced back to its plans to refresh its lineup from the late 1990s. The Sonic cruiser of 01 that died a stake in the heart and head taken off of 9/11 and the Airlines being more interested in economics than speed.
That lead to project Yellowstone. Of that the 787 though ultimately successful was a drag on the Boeing R&D. Its 3 years delay caused Boeing to move to the idea of launching 8/MAX (what airbus would call a NEO) series aircraft variants as they weren’t able to get to clean sheets.
Made worse as fabrication issues later created more problems. Boeing had been betting on technological solutions that were not ready for the 787 and are still on shaky ground.
All the while Airbus launched its counter NEOs so both airline makers more or less kept the same lineups with a single new type in the mix.

The counter factual Road not taken…

Had Boeing not sold off Spirit aero systems in 05 they might have had less issues on logistics and fabrication with more oversight into 787/Max.
Had Boeing not launched a complaint about the C series They not Airbus, might have a New 737 replacement already to slap a couple sevens on in line up. (They still might have had they not walked away.) Planes that could have taken the lower end of the MAX allowing more time to sort the MCAS.

Boeing’s issues with military contracts and the VC25B would still have happened. Boeing should have realized that starting with a set of used 747-8I and a contract that requires full certification by the FAA as a new aircraft would have lead to delays. As the whole aircraft would have to be taken apart and rewired plus redocumented as a new type, made worse by Covid and issues with the 787/777X/KC46.

KC46’s first issue was the USAF having asked for the wrong specifications on the boom requiring a redesign. Then compounded by poor management of assembly, poor design of the vision system and more. Plus the limited number of security cleared workers and the number of security required projects. Another set of issues errors made by Spirit (I seem to be harping on them when it seems like it’s really the way the two companies work together that’s the issue).
Basically issue after issue compounds and after a while the 737 Max line fell apart. Now those have to be rebuilt as bad habits and practices need to be removed.
One aspect that has hit the whole industry hard is that the new blood coming in isn’t as much or as skilled as the old blood that chose to walk away in the dark days of Covid.
...

Boeing's airliner problems are almost entirely self-inflicted: wasting money & design effort on Sonic Cruiser (an obviously flawed concept to my mind), picking a self-damaging fight with Bombardier over C-series, selling off Spirit then failing to oversee QC, etc.

 

[John Fedup]

Boeing's airliner problems are almost entirely self-inflicted: wasting money & design effort on Sonic Cruiser (an obviously flawed concept to my mind), picking a self-damaging fight with Bombardier over C-series, selling off Spirit then failing to oversee QC, etc.

I think the other problem was the difficult 787 program, tons of money on development followed by expensive delays which soaked up available money for a clean sheet modern single aisle resulting in a revamp of the ancient 737. We know how that worked out. Might have been partially ok if they had left the engineers alone and away from the bean counters.

 

[Ananda]

Might have been partially ok if they had left the engineers alone and away from the bean counters.

That's the problem when the merger between MD and Boeing resulted with a company that should be dominate by Acquirer value not the other way around, which the Acquiree value then dominate the HQ. The result the new merger company follow MD manufacturing tradition that result patch up QC process in DC-10, instead more prepared QC on 747 ones.

 

[John Fedup]

That's the problem when the merger between MD and Boeing resulted with a company that should be dominate by Acquirer value not the other way around, which the Acquiree value then dominate the HQ. The result the new merger company follow MD manufacturing tradition that result patch up QC process in DC-10, instead more prepared QC on 747 ones.

No doubt about it, MD was a serious infection that possibly could prove fatal to Boeing's commercial business albeit the defence division has problems as well. The US government will not allow the latter to fail, the defence MIC needs more players, not fewer.

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

Interesting 40 seconds of an expensive mistake.
A380 Pilot Destroys Nose Gear (youtube.com)

Same incident but from another angle.
A380 Landing Goes Wrong (youtube.com)

Recently filmed at London Heathrow.