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.




And Air France - KLM suffers huge losses the first quarter of this year, E 480 million.
Many factors are the cause for it, like bad weather, international conflicts, lack of technicians and difficulties with the delivery of aircraft spareparts.
Air France-KLM boekt grootste verlies sinds coronacrisis: 480 miljoen (nos.nl)
Air France-KLM lijdt kwartaalverlies van bijna half miljard euro | Luchtvaartnieuws

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

Boeing whistleblower Joshua Dean, who accused supplier of ignoring safety flaws in 737 Max production dies suddenly almost two months after airline's former quality control manager John Barnett took his own life.

What a coincidence. And such a convenience for Boeing, the first whistleblowers suddenly commits suicide without reason, and two months later another suddenly dies because of multiple deseases and infections at the same moment.

Tweede Boeing-klokkenluider in korte tijd overleden

Joshua Dean, een voormalig medewerker van Boeing die eerder waarschuwde voor fabricagefouten in de 737 Max-toestellen van de vliegtuigbouwer, is na een kort ziekbed overleden. Eerder dit jaar overleed ook al een andere klokkenluider van Boeing.

m.nieuwsblad.be

https://www.telegraaf.nl/nieuws/2072142125/tweede-boeing-klokkenluider-overleden-na-mysterieuze-infectie

Another Boeing whistleblower dies suddenly

Yet another Boeing whistleblower has died after the family of Joshua Dean, a quality auditor at supplier Spirit AeroSystems, confirmed that he passed away at the age of 44 on Tuesday.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Ananda]

One 737 Max crash, Boeing smeer Lion Air maintenance and training practices. When the second 737 Max crash in Ethiopia, Boeing PR also try to blame Ethiopian as part of our planes are good, but it is another airlines fault.

Now one whistle blower take suicide follow the second ones sudden death, as if Boeing other problems are have not been solved yet. If this happens in Russia or China, you can imagine much more medias already full speculation on force death conspiracy (not just daily mail).

 

[Terran]

I don’t think Boeing would consider this a convenience. First because right now every conspiracy theorist and half the media are going to go up their nose looking for proof that Boeing offed these guys.

Consider for a moment what it’s like being a whistleblower. Do you know how much stress they are under? The morality of the choice isn’t straightforward and almost no one is going to be buddy buddy here. They are burning bridges.
Now in the first case the guy even went so far as to claim that Boeing was going to Suicide him. That’s not the action of someone who isn’t under a tremendous amount of stress. It’s also interesting phrasing. It’s on the face of it a worry but at the same time it’s also potentially a sign of an individual who is having suicidal ideation.
I am not saying it’s not possible for him to have been killed in an orchestrated assassination but it’s highly unlikely.

On the second case. First he blew the Whistle on Spirit and then went to work for Boeing. He was a 45 year old male and working for a company that is under a ton of pressure having left a company where he burned a lot of bridges No doubt under pressure himself. He check marks multiple flags for a potential sudden coronary.
Just look at the photos they posted of the guy in the Daily mail article. The difference between age 44 and age 45. It looks more like the difference between 34 and 65.

 

[Ananda]

Seems the talk in media or those online's chats from what I gather, not about force suicide or assassination. However more to orchestrated pressure to whistle blower, in scaring others to come out.

Current practice at least in Financial Industry for Good Corporate Governance (GCG), in fact encourage whistle blowers atmosphere. This by many regulators in many countries, seeing as part of company GCG practices to build grass roots practices of check and recheck. When whistle blowers talk to media or external parties, it is also shown the top management failures to provide proper venue of internal employees control participation. Can also be seen increase practices to push down and silence any check and recheck participation from their grass roots lines.

Either way, I don't envy whoever want to be new Boeing CEO. He or She will have dounting tasks to not only rebuild reputation, but also rebuild cultures of Boeing.