Where is the Outrage over Boeing 737-MAX?

[Captain Wiggles]

1 minute ago, Dan T. said:

Whereas I drop my phone while sitting on the couch and the shattered screen looks like someone used it for target practice. 

 

Maybe next time. 😉

 

https://www.otterbox.com/

[Fergasun]

https://nypost.com/2024/01/31/news/ex-senior-boeing-staff-warn-everyone-to-avoid-max-9-jets/

Quote

 

"I would absolutely not fly a MAX airplane,” one-time senior Boeing manager Ed Pierson bluntly told the Los Angeles Times of the model that recently saw a door plug blow out in midair on an Alaska Airlines flight.

“I’ve worked in the factory where they were built, and I saw the pressure employees were under to rush the planes out the door.”  Joe Jacobsen, a former Boeing engineer who has also worked at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), gave a similar warning, saying it was “premature” for airlines, including Alaska, to have resumed flying the jets.  “I would tell my family to avoid the MAX,” Jacobsen told the LA Times, claiming that his time at the company made him realize that profits were prioritized over quality control.

“I would tell everyone, really.”

 

 

[stoshuaj]

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/problem-found-boeing-737-max-041338282.html

 

”The problem was disclosed in a memo sent to Boeing (BA) employees Sunday by Stan Deal, the head of the company’s commercial aircraft unit. An employee at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems, which makes the fuselages of the 737 Max jets, notified the plane maker that two holes may not have been drilled exactly to Boeing’s requirements, according to Deal’s memo.

“While this potential condition is not an immediate flight safety issue and all 737’s can continue operating safely, we currently believe we will have to perform rework on about 50 undelivered airplanes,” it said”

 

**more at link

[CousinsCowgirl84]

Metric to imperial conversions can be tricky..

[China]

Alaska Airlines 737 May Have Left Boeing Factory Missing Bolts, N.T.S.B. Says

 

Four bolts used to secure the panel that ultimately blew off an Alaska Airlines plane during a flight last month were removed — and appear not to have been replaced — at Boeing’s factory in Renton, Wash., according to a preliminary report released Tuesday by the National Transportation Safety Board.

 

The panel, known as a door plug, was opened to repair damaged rivets on the plane’s body, known as the fuselage. The report did not say who removed the bolts keeping the door plug in place. But the safety board said it appeared that not all the bolts were put back once the door was reinstalled on the plane after the rivets had been repaired.

 

As evidence, the N.T.S.B. provided a photograph of the door plug after it was reinstalled but before the plane’s interior was restored. In the image, three of the four bolts appear to be missing. The location of the fourth bolt is covered with insulation.

 

The report said the image had been attached to “a text message between Boeing team members on September 19, 2023.” The Boeing employees “were discussing interior restoration after the rivet rework was completed during second shift operations that day,” the report said.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[TheGreatBuzz]

As a 20 year aircraft mechanic, I ain't flying on **** again until the FAA and NTSB have convinced me that civilian aviation in general has gotten their quality assurance issues straight. And I've flown on birds that I KNEW had duct tape holding it together (because I put it there).

 

I did some shady **** in my time and this is scaring the crap out of me.

[CousinsCowgirl84]

53 minutes ago, TheGreatBuzz said:

As a 20 year aircraft mechanic, I ain't flying on **** again until the FAA and NTSB have convinced me that civilian aviation in general has gotten their quality assurance issues straight. And I've flown on birds that I KNEW had duct tape holding it together (because I put it there).

 

I did some shady **** in my time and this is scaring the crap out of me.

How can the FAA and NTSB (especially the NTSB) convince you of anything? FAA is so understaffed that there is no way they will catch even most of the issues and the NTSB has no ability to enforce its recommendations.  The NTSB can’t even get positive train control all all routes and they’ve been pushing for that for 20 years and it’s a lot simpler (compared to some of the recommendations they have for planes)
 

To me I take it as how interesting it is that planes are so resilient. At the end of the day, the US hasn’t had a passenger plane crash resulting in death since 2013 and before that 2007? so despite all these issues our pilots appear to be well trained and our planes mostly safe.

[TheGreatBuzz]

1 hour ago, CousinsCowgirl84 said:

How can the FAA and NTSB (especially the NTSB) convince you of anything? FAA is so understaffed that there is no way they will catch even most of the issues and the NTSB has no ability to enforce its recommendations.  The NTSB can’t even get positive train control all all routes and they’ve been pushing for that for 20 years and it’s a lot simpler (compared to some of the recommendations they have for planes)
 

To me I take it as how interesting it is that planes are so resilient. At the end of the day, the US hasn’t had a passenger plane crash resulting in death since 2013 and before that 2007? so despite all these issues our pilots appear to be well trained and our planes mostly safe.

 

That shows how much redundancy is built into aircraft also. 

 

I'm not going to write a dissertation on how to fix civilian aviation maintenance and quality control. But it doesn't take many people. It takes quality leaders with authority to reset culture.

[Skinsfan1311]

4 hours ago, TheGreatBuzz said:

As a 20 year aircraft mechanic, I ain't flying on **** again until the FAA and NTSB have convinced me that civilian aviation in general has gotten their quality assurance issues straight. And I've flown on birds that I KNEW had duct tape holding it together (because I put it there).

 

I did some shady **** in my time and this is scaring the crap out of me.

Then you'll probably never fly again....

[China]

Boeing hasn’t turned over records about work on the panel that blew off a jetliner, US official says

 

Boeing and the National Transportation Safety Board argued Wednesday over whether the company has cooperated with investigators looking into the blowout of a door-plug panel on one of its planes during a flight in January.

 

The safety board’s chair, Jennifer Homendy, told a Senate Committee that for two months Boeing repeatedly refused to identify employees who work on door panels on Boeing 737s. Investigators want to interview them.

 

Homendy also said the company has failed to provide documentation about a repair job that included removing and reinstalling the panel on the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 that suffered the blowout — or even whether Boeing kept records.

 

“It’s absurd that two months later we don’t have that,” Homendy said. “Without that information, that raises concerns about quality assurance, quality management, safety management systems” at Boeing.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

 

[balki1867]

Another Boeing accident in Houston this morning…

[PokerPacker]

If my company sends me on another business trip, I'm definitely taking Airbus.

[Fergasun]

Wtf ..

 

BBC:  Boeing Whistleblower Found Dead in US (suicide)

Quote

 

After retiring, he embarked on a long-running legal action against the company.

He accused it of denigrating his character and hampering his career because of the issues he pointed out - charges rejected by Boeing.  At the time of his death, Mr Barnett had been in Charleston for legal interviews linked to that case.  Last week, he gave a formal deposition in which he was questioned by Boeing's lawyers, before being cross-examined by his own counsel.  He had been due to undergo further questioning on Saturday. When he did not appear, enquiries were made at his hotel.  He was subsequently found dead in his truck in the hotel car park.  Speaking to the BBC, his lawyer described his death as "tragic".

 

This is more shady than Epstein...

Edited March 12 by Fergasun

[China]

 

[China]

Hotel Keycards And Dawn Dish Soap Used In 737 Max Production As Boeing Fails 33 FAA Safety Checks

 

Boeing is having a rough time of it right now, with parts falling off its planes left, right and center. Just last week, a wheel came loose and smashed through a car, and earlier this year the door from a 737 Max aircraft broke off mid-flight. That mid-air disaster sparked an audit from the Federal Aviation Administration, which has gone far from well.

 

The audit, which is kind of like a quality control inspection for large companies, analyzed 89 aspects of Boeing’s 737 Max production, as well as 13 product audits at Spirit AeroSystems, which produces fuselages for the aircraft.

 

Of the inspections carried out, Boeing failed 33 of them and Spirit failed a further seven, reports the New York Times. Not good. The failed tests highlighted more than 95 instances of alleged noncompliance, reports the Times. According to the site:

 

Quote

At one point during the examination, the air-safety agency observed mechanics at Spirit using a hotel key card to check a door seal, according to a document that describes some of the findings. That action was “not identified/documented/called-out in the production order,” the document said.

 

In another instance, the F.A.A. saw Spirit mechanics apply liquid Dawn soap to a door seal “as lubricant in the fit-up process,” according to the document. The door seal was then cleaned with a wet cheesecloth, the document said, noting that instructions were “vague and unclear on what specifications/actions are to be followed or recorded by the mechanic.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[TheGreatBuzz]

*that soap trick is done by every aircraft mechanic I know. Our military manuals listed it as an authorized alternative but I don't know what their books say. 

[tshile]

It’s a tried and true way to detect leaks. I’ve used it for gas lines, tires… anything where a leak means air (or something gaseous) leaking out, dawn does wonders. 
 

makes a **** ton of bubbles you can’t ignore 🤷‍♂️ 

[Destino]

On 3/8/2024 at 2:52 PM, PokerPacker said:

If my company sends me on another business trip, I'm definitely taking Airbus.

The fact that you and others are even thinking along those terms is a very bad sign for Boeing. Just ask yourself how many times in your life you’ve known which aircraft you wanted to avoid.

[China]

Just ask yourself how many options you have.  2,  Airbus and Boeing.  What do you do if you have no choice but to take Boeing?  Not go?

[Larry]

1 hour ago, TheGreatBuzz said:

*that soap trick is done by every aircraft mechanic I know. Our military manuals listed it as an authorized alternative but I don't know what their books say. 

 

Long ago, Dad told me that a recognized "field expedient" for removing scratches from plastic aircraft windows was Air Force toothpaste, which contained a mild abrasive. 

[tshile]

34 minutes ago, Destino said:

The fact that you and others are even thinking along those terms is a very bad sign for Boeing. Just ask yourself how many times in your life you’ve known which aircraft you wanted to avoid.

I have a feeling we’re watching the start of some pretty crazy stuff with Boeing. 
 

wouldn’t want to own their stock right now 😂 

[dfitzo53]

50 minutes ago, Larry said:

 

Long ago, Dad told me that a recognized "field expedient" for removing scratches from plastic aircraft windows was Air Force toothpaste, which contained a mild abrasive. 

Toothpaste with baking soda is more or less a polishing agent.

[Dr. Do Itch Big]

1 hour ago, tshile said:

I have a feeling we’re watching the start of some pretty crazy stuff with Boeing. 
 

wouldn’t want to own their stock right now 😂 

Buy the dip? 
 

that article is wild. It’s like a movie. 
 

if it wasn’t a suicide, no way it doesn’t leak right???

[CousinsCowgirl84]

Boeing is too big to fail, I imagine that if they got into serious trouble the government would move to protect its stock price by perhaps buy stock directly.

 

but I wouldn’t want to own Boeing atm either, cause it could fall a long way before the government steps in.

Edited March 13 by CousinsCowgirl84