More Boeing Bad News

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Boac
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Re: More Boeing Bad News

#461 Post by Boac » Wed Sep 16, 2020 9:03 pm

How about
"both Boeing and FAA share responsibility for the development & certification of an aircraft that was unsafe."

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Re: More Boeing Bad News

#462 Post by PHXPhlyer » Wed Sep 16, 2020 9:10 pm

This was a case, I think, of the fox guarding the henhouse.

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Re: More Boeing Bad News

#463 Post by Boac » Thu Sep 17, 2020 9:01 am

I do not hold out much hope for Boeing shares. The lawsuits are going to be HUGE!

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Re: More Boeing Bad News

#464 Post by ricardian » Thu Sep 24, 2020 7:37 am

Ricardian, Stronsay, Orkney UK
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Re: More Boeing Bad News

#465 Post by ian16th » Thu Sep 24, 2020 12:28 pm

I love the 'bootnote':
International Air Transport Association aeroplane type codes will be B37M, B38M and B39M should you want to avoid booking a flight on one.
Cynicism improves with age

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Re: More Boeing Bad News

#466 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Fri Sep 25, 2020 2:43 am

ian16th wrote:
Thu Sep 24, 2020 12:28 pm
I love the 'bootnote':
International Air Transport Association aeroplane type codes will be B37M, B38M and B39M should you want to avoid booking a flight on one.
The NPRM, published here, proposes various fixes to the 737 Max design, its software and procedures for pilots to follow in the event of a problem. One of those procedures includes disabling the airliner's automatic trim system, operated by MCAS when the software kicks in, and having the two pilots use a manual backup trim wheel instead of the aircraft's powerful electric motors.

BALPA said: "Requiring both crew members to turn the trim wheel simultaneously in a non-normal scenario is extremely undesirable and goes against all philosophies of having one pilot fly and one run the QRH [quick reference handbook: reading out the emergency checklist]. No flight control system should require both pilots to operate it at any stage, let alone in an emergency."
I think BALPA make a very good point here.
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Re: More Boeing Bad News

#467 Post by PHXPhlyer » Fri Sep 25, 2020 3:08 am

Boeing's other solution , which was rejected, was for one pilot to leave the cockpit with a hand crank to operate the jack screw. :-o :)) =))

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Some good news perhaps?

#468 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Mon Sep 28, 2020 5:59 pm

Perhaps the most important flight in Boeing’s history, symbolically at least, is scheduled for Wednesday as FAA Administrator Steve Dickson straps into the left seat of a Boeing 737 MAX. In November of 2019 Dickson famously made the pledge to wring out the changes to the aircraft software personally. “I am not going to sign off on this aircraft until I fly it myself and am satisfied that I would put my own family on it without a second thought,” he said at the time. The flight signals that the FAA is getting ready to allow the aircraft to return to flight for the first time since March of 2019 when the second of two fatal crashes involving the MAX’s flight control system occurred in Ethiopia.

This is no photo op for Dickson. Before releasing the brakes, he will undergo the full training package Boeing is proposing existing 737 pilots take before flying the latest model. Dickson flew 737NG models for Delta before he joined the executive ranks. The training and flight will take place in Seattle. The primary focus will be on the behavior of the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System that was identified as the source of the control problems that resulted in the Ethiopian crash and an earlier one in Indonesia, which killed a total of 346 people.
http://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/dick ... x-sept-30/
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Re: More Boeing Bad News

#469 Post by G-CPTN » Mon Sep 28, 2020 6:50 pm

Hope he has good life insurance.

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Re: More Boeing Bad News

#470 Post by Rwy in Sight » Mon Sep 28, 2020 7:50 pm

Impressive career path for the administrator. Although I have been told that an administrator / state secretary must not be a specialist in the field - a medical doctor heading the department of health!

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Re: More Boeing Bad News

#471 Post by PHXPhlyer » Thu Oct 01, 2020 3:04 am

In unusual move, FAA chief test flies 737 Max; says more fixes needed

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/30/business ... index.html

In unusual move, FAA chief test flies 737 Max; says more fixes needed
Gregory Wallace Profile
By Pete Muntean and Gregory Wallace, CNN

Updated 8:46 PM ET, Wed September 30, 2020
E
Washington, DC (CNN Business)Federal Aviation Administration chief Steve Dickson says he has some suggestions for new changes to the Boeing 737 MAX after piloting the grounded jetliner Wednesday.

"I like what I saw on the flight," said Dickson, a former airline pilot who flew earlier versions of the 737.
"That doesn't mean I don't have some debrief items going forward," said Dickson after his two-hour flight from Seattle's Boeing Field.
Dickson said he'd like to see tweaks "not so much in the procedures, but in the narrative that describes the procedures."
Federal regulators are still evaluating Boeing's proposed safety changes to the embattled design after a pair of fatal crashes abroad killed 346 people, grounding the plane worldwide in March 2019. Dickson stressed his unorthodox flight was not part of the official FAA recertification process — which Dickson said is in the home stretch.
Steve Dickson, administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, bringing a Boeing Co. 737 Max airplane to a stop after a test flight in Seattle.
Steve Dickson, administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, bringing a Boeing Co. 737 Max airplane to a stop after a test flight in Seattle.
The 18-month grounding has cost Boeing at least $18 billion. And it has missed a series of target dates for getting approval for the plane to again carry passengers. Before the Covid-19 pandemic it had been expecting approval for the plane by the middle of this year.
But the pandemic, and the resulting plunge in air travel worldwide, has led virtually all airlines to park a large percentage of their planes, reducing the need for Boeing (BA) to win the approval for the plane to fly sooner than later.
Crash victim daughter criticizes flight
The daughter of Joseph Waithaka, who was killed in the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash, called the flight a "gimmick."
"It's nothing but a clown in a suit to reassure the public that everything is fine," Zipporah Kuria said in an email shared by her attorney. "It's clearly a PR stunt for the FAA and a free endorsement for Boeing."
Dickson told reporters the flight was "not a publicity stunt."
"It was important to me to understand the training and handling of the aircraft," said Dickson, who prepared in a flight simulator and flew the actual airplane alongside a Boeing company pilot.
He also said concerns about the plane's safety raised earlier this month by the FAA's own safety engineers are under consideration by the officials certifying the plane. The safety engineers, in a document submitted to the FAA by their union, said additional work is needed before the jet should be cleared for passenger flights.
Dickson would not address the specific concerns, saying there is "a process for responding to and reviewing the comments," but that he is proud of the agency's work to raise questions and prevent "groupthink."
A report prepared this month by investigators with the House Transportation Committee called into question the way the agency reviewed the plane for safety leading up to its initial certification in 2017.
"The problem is it was compliant but not safe, and people died," committee Chairman Peter DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat, said.

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Re: More Boeing Bad News

#472 Post by PHXPhlyer » Thu Oct 01, 2020 6:48 pm

Boeing closes 787 Dreamliner production in Everett

https://www.ifn.news/posts/boeing-close ... n-everett/

Boeing closes 787 Dreamliner production in Everett
1st Oct. 2020 Jan-Hendrik Fiedler

Remaining Boeing 787 production line in Charleston, South Carolina. Photo: © Boeing
The US-based aircraft manufacturer Boeing announced on Thursday that it intends to move the production of its 787 Dreamliner family entirely to South Carolina in 2021.

Boeing cites a drastically reduced demand for new long-haul aircraft due to the Covid-19 pandemic as one of the reasons for the move from its production site in Everett near Seattle to Charleston in South Carolina. Additionally, the company wants to “enhance efficiency and improve performance” of its commercial programs with the move to South Carolina.

Originally, the 787 Dreamliner was only being built in Everett, Washington, before Boeing opened another factory in South Carolina in 2012. Both locations combined produced up to 14 aircraft a month. In July 2020, the company first announced that it is studying a consolidation of its 787 Dreamliner production to one site. Since Boeing cannot build the largest member of the 787 family, the 787-10, in Everett due to size constraints, Charleston was the ideal location for that.

Production at its Everett facilities will slowly end in mid-2021 and will continue in Charleston at a rate of six aircraft per month. Boeing is quick to add that the production of its 737, 767, 777 and 747 (the last of which will be built in 2022) families will continue in the Seattle area.

There have been several reports of quality control issues at the Charleston factory, including manufacturing tools being left behind in parts of several aircraft and difficulties between the Boeing management and its workers at the not-unionized plant. Some see the lack of unions and worse working conditions as key reasons for Boeing to consolidate its 787 production in South Carolina.


Jan-Hendrik Fiedler
Jan-Hendrik is an aviation enthusiast from southern Germany, loves to travel the world and fly on as many aircraft as possible. His first flight was with a Condor 757 to Spain and has been into aviation ever since. He is most interested in aircraft deliveries and passenger experience (PaxEx).

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Re: More Boeing Bad News

#473 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Thu Oct 01, 2020 7:33 pm

PHXPhlyer wrote:
Thu Oct 01, 2020 3:04 am
In unusual move, FAA chief test flies 737 Max; says more fixes needed

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/30/business ... index.html

In unusual move, FAA chief test flies 737 Max; says more fixes needed

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Re: More Boeing Bad News

#474 Post by Boac » Fri Oct 16, 2020 7:39 am

Apparently EASA has now OK'd the MAX

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... -regulator

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Re: More Boeing Bad News

#475 Post by PHXPhlyer » Fri Oct 16, 2020 3:01 pm

Three Notable Points

Europe’s top aviation regulator said he’s satisfied that changes to Boeing Co.’s 737 Max have made the plane safe enough to return to the region’s skies before 2020 is out, even as a further upgrade his agency demanded won’t be ready for up to two years.

(W)hile the development of a so-called synthetic sensor to add redundancy will take 20 to 24 months, he said. The software-based solution will be required on the larger Max 10 variant before its debut targeted for 2022, and retrofitted onto other versions.

“Our analysis is showing that this is safe, and the level of safety reached is high enough for us,” Ky said in an interview. “What we discussed with Boeing is the fact that with the third sensor, we could reach even higher safety levels.”

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Re: More Boeing Bad News

#476 Post by G-CPTN » Fri Oct 16, 2020 3:31 pm

No doubt we shall see . . .

It remains to be seen how many of these aircraft will return to flying (given the downturn).

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Re: More Boeing Bad News

#477 Post by PHXPhlyer » Fri Oct 23, 2020 3:55 pm


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Re: More Boeing Bad News

#478 Post by G-CPTN » Fri Oct 23, 2020 4:30 pm

To be fair, many airlines will want to defer deliveries of any aircraft due to the downturn in travel due to the virus.

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Re: More Boeing Bad News

#479 Post by Rwy in Sight » Sat Oct 24, 2020 8:49 am

Unless they can retire older less fuel efficient aircraft - although I am not sure MAX should prove its worth before it becomes the workhorse everybody planned to be.

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Re: More Boeing Bad News

#480 Post by barkingmad » Sat Oct 24, 2020 9:50 am

Boac wrote:
Fri Oct 16, 2020 7:39 am
Apparently EASA has now OK'd the MAX

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... -regulator
Big deal then, EASA also OK’d their own new Flight Time Limitations for aircrew, cobbled up by a committee none of whom were either current or ex-aircrew, and look at what a brilliant step forwards that was for Flight Safety?

I am currently (!) still fiddling with the cat’s whisker on my crystal wireless set, here under the stairs, waiting to hear whether the newly potent and virulent UK CAA will also join in the approval fray of demanding more bells and whistles be added to the Max.

Someone told me the other day that reception under the stairs may not be optimal and that I might utilise the house wiring for use as an aerial, so that’s my next project.

Can I have a job with Seattle’s design team please, having proved my technical competencies?! =))

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