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This ^ is the scariest part for me.ETA: If Boeing thought this would let them get ahead of the news cycle, they really don't understand how bad this makes their processes look.
This ^ is the scariest part for me.ETA: If Boeing thought this would let them get ahead of the news cycle, they really don't understand how bad this makes their processes look.
Saw quite a few MD-11s at Memphis last year on our Spring Break Road Trip after which the announcement came out about retiring their MD-11 fleets. Even saw an MD-10 on the ramp awaiting delivery to a tech school. Really need to get back down there and take pics again....Forgot about the NASA test aircraft Mark Nankivil plus the FedEx examples.
Because they kept pumping the stock price. The current state of US industry allows only three checks on a huge company like this: regulatory agencies, Congress, and the stock market. The Agencies aren't funded/empowered enough, Congress is Congress, and the stock market only cares about "share price go up."Quite honestly, how they got this far down the line mystifies me. Pretty sure most other companies would have sunk beyond trace by now.
That answer is "none in the US, and only one other in the world"Well, the right question would be more: how many other airplane companies have we like that out there?
Not with my tax dollars--for those, it should be nationalized...CEOs and managers replaced by Drill Instructors barking at soldiers putting the planes together.Could the US pull off a 2008 GM style bailout of Boeing?
Dude, the government cannot make a successful business out of a whorehouse.Not with my tax dollars--for those, it should be nationalized...CEOs and managers replaced by Drill Instructors barking at soldiers putting the planes together.
TLDR: 1-Boeing has three different teams working on the door plugs, plus the team from Spirit working on the hole where the door plug should go. 2-Team A removed it to let Team Spirit do their fix, but 3-apparently didn't generate any paperwork to say it needed to be put back. 4-Presumably they had a work order for this, and presumably every aircraft has a work log of some description. Why did that work order not tag the door as not fit for flight? And generate a placeholder work order for putting it back? 5-Team Doors then put the door plug back in 'temporarily', 6- without the bolts, 7-because they were moving the aircraft outside and didn't want things getting wet. Apparently they do this 'often'. (*headdesk* Why aren't the doors team making entries in the work log to say the aircraft has an not-fit-for-flight-part-fitted? And checking the paperwork to ensure a fit-for-flight fix is in the system). 8-And finally there's team C who should have done the work, who we've been blaming for months, who were never told the work needed doing.
About the best you can say is it's a miracle this never happened before. The entire process positively invites a cockup.
Something mentioned numerous times in the John Oliver videoBecause they kept pumping the stock price. The current state of US industry allows only three checks on a huge company like this: regulatory agencies, Congress, and the stock market. The Agencies aren't funded/empowered enough, Congress is Congress, and the stock market only cares about "share price go up."
The plug was hidden behind the cabin lining panels, which the cabin crew would have needed to remove for any meaningful inspection. Have you ever even *looked* at the inside of an airliner cabin? What it takes to inspect what is covered by those panels? You are flogging that dead horse again.Once again, that this airframe went into service and flew for a considerable time (given the plugged exit door was free to move and didn´t provide full sealing as reported by passengers) is a proof that the asylum extend way beyond Boeing. In my book, cabin crew are to inspect the cabin, ground crew are to insure that the plane (and its cabin) are in order to safely host passengers for the next flight and front seaters (let´s call them that way) are accountable for following the plane airworthiness as does the FAA when attributing a registering number (you don´t just stamp an approval because a big stuff is parked on the front apron).
Hell yeah, something went wrong
The cabin crew would need to disassemble the area where the plugs are in order to make that inspection. Including removing the seats so that the interior panel can come out. They'd get fined tens of thousands of dollars personally for doing so, as that is not something they are permitted to do by the Federal Aviation Regulations. That's the job of a MECHANIC. And then corporate would get fined on top of that for requiring their employees do something prohibited by the FARs. Corporate would also likely be in breach of the collective bargaining agreements with their mechanics as well, for another very large fine, this time going to the union.In my book, cabin crew are to inspect the cabin, ground crew are to insure that the plane (and its cabin) are in order to safely host passengers for the next flight and front seaters (let´s call them that way) are accountable for following the plane airworthiness as does the FAA when attributing a registering number (you don´t just stamp an approval because a big stuff is parked on the front apron).
That joint is covered by interior paneling. Any joints visible inside the cabin are joints between panels, not the joint of plug to fuselage. When was the last time you were inside an airliner?No. All pilots have that responsibility.
Since they were aware of passengers reports, they could have simply directed the cabin crew to confirm/infirm the report (fresh air abnormally entering the cabin) and, in case of any doubts, direct one of them to pass their hands around the joint while in flight*. Easy and Quick.
No, there was NOT an emergency exit there... there was a plug that completely sealed (or was supposed to) that opening with the only way to open would be to remove interior finish panels and unbolt the 4 bolts.No. All pilots have that responsibility.
Since they were aware of passengers reports, they could have simply directed the cabin crew to confirm/infirm the report (fresh air abnormally entering the cabin) and, in case of any doubts, direct one of them to pass their hands around the joint while in flight*. Easy and Quick.
Pilots are not requested to be Engineers or Mechanics. But they are trained and supposed to make themselves proficient to troubleshoot safety problems (at least alert when a potential one surface). There is much more than starring at charts or the 1st class menu.
*They are the ones supposed to know that there is an emergency exit hidden there
Quote 2, warning signals:A day before the door plug blew out of an Alaska Airlines flight on Jan. 5, engineers and technicians for the airline were so concerned about the mounting evidence of a problem that they wanted the plane to come out of service the next evening and undergo maintenance, interviews and documents show.
But the airline chose to keep the plane, a Boeing 737 Max 9, in service on Jan. 5 with some restrictions, carrying passengers until it completed three flights that were scheduled to end that night in Portland, Ore., the site of one of the airline’s maintenance facilities.
Before the plane could complete that scheduled sequence of flights and go in for the maintenance check, the door plug blew out at 16,000 feet, minutes after embarking on the second flight of the day, from Portland to Ontario International Airport in California.
Quote 3, whistling noise:Donald Wright, the vice president for maintenance and engineering for Alaska Airlines, said the warning signals — a light indicating problems with the plane’s pressurization system — had come on twice in the previous 10 days instead of the three times the airline considers the trigger to take more aggressive action.
Alaska Airlines has repeatedly asserted that there is no evidence that the warning lights, which could also be caused by electronic or other problems, were related to the impending plug blowout.
“From my perspective as the safety guy, looking at all the data, all the leading indicators, there was nothing that would drive me to make a different decision,” Max Tidwell, the vice president for safety and security for Alaska Airlines, said in an interview.
In his court filing, [lawyer representing passengers] Mr. Lindquist said that passengers on a previous flight heard a “whistling sound” coming from the area of the door plug. The documents say passengers brought the noise to the attention of the flight attendant, who then reported it to the pilots. When asked about the report, Alaska Airlines said it could not find any record of a report of whistling coming from the plane.
Almost a week before the blowout, the 737 had been taken out of service on Dec. 31 because of an issue with the front passenger entry and exit door. Records show the plane resumed service on Jan. 2. However, on Jan. 3, a pressurization warning light was triggered during at least one of the plane’s flights. Alaska Airlines officials said the plane was inspected by engineers and the carrier determined it was safe enough for the plane to continue flying.
The next day, the same light was again triggered.
A spokeswoman for Alaska Airlines said it was then that engineers and technicians scheduled the deeper inspection of the plane for the night of Jan. 5 in Portland. But the airline chose to keep the plane flying with passengers as it made its way across the country that day.
The revelations about the warning signs of a potential problem have raised questions about whether routine inspections should have been able to weave together various indications of an issue and avert the incident.
Jennifer Homendy, the chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, told reporters last week that over the 154 flights the plane had flown since entering service in the fall, small upward movements of the door plug had left visible marks [likely noted in the aircraft's maintenance log - where else?], and possibly created a gap between the panel and the fuselage.
Alaska Airlines officials said they did not notice any unusual gaps between the door plug and the plane’s fuselage during inspections on the days leading up to the door plug coming off [again, likely noted in the aircraft's maintenance log].
Additional evidence includes the pressurization system lights on previous flights and the unconfirmed [lack of records] reports of a whistling noise.
Pretty sure Homendy's talking about witness marks on either the door plug or the hole it sits in. So no entry in the maintenance log because the marks were between two close fitting bits of metal until the plug exited the aircraft, and literally impossible to see.NY Times, 2024-03-12:
Quote 1, executive summary:
Quote 2, warning signals:
Quote 3, whistling noise:
... small upward movements of the door plug had left visible marks [likely noted in the aircraft's maintenance log - where else?],
You don´t bring your personal car to the mechanics without a word or two explaining your concerns for God sake.
Lawyers, those paragons of aviation knowledge, without any axe to grind....If a lawyers can come around a dozen of witnesses in a matter of a week,
And if your complaint at the mechanic is "it makes a funny whistling noise" be prepared to spend an absolute fuckton of money while they have the car for long enough to find that whistle.I think that is incorrect. If the report from passengers had been taken with care, i-e professionalism, the ground crew would have directed their attention toward the plug and not front door. The cost equation threshold would have been adverted.
Once again, that´s why you have this chain of responsibility to pass and treat information precisely.
You don´t bring your personal car to the mechanics without a word or two explaining your concerns for God sake.
The aircraft involved in the accident had its cabin pressurization "AUTO FAIL" indicator illuminated on three previous occasions – on December 7, January 3 (in flight), and January 4 (after landing). This indicates that the primary automatic cabin pressurization controller was disabled by a fault condition, which can be caused by a problem with the controller itself, one of the valves it controls, an excessive pressure differential, an excessive rate of cabin pressure change, or a high cabin altitude. When a fault is detected, pressurization control automatically transfers to an alternate automatic controller. The "AUTO FAIL" indicator alerts the crew to this change, but no intervention is prescribed.[49] On each occasion of a fault, the alternate controller was used, and flights proceeded normally.[20] However, due to the faults, Alaska Airlines had restricted the aircraft from operating extended overwater flights (under ETOPS rules) until a detailed maintenance inspection could occur.[20] It is not yet known if the indicator warning is related to the accident; the NTSB investigation will include the issue.[20]
- How many passenger reported 'whistling noises'?When those passengers reported thd problem,
irbus SE (stock exchange symbol: AIR) has entered into a binding term sheet agreement with Spirit AeroSystems in relation to a potential acquisition of major activities related to Airbus, notably the production of A350 fuselage sections in Kinston, North Carolina, U.S., and St. Nazaire, France; of the A220’s wings and mid-fuselage in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Casablanca, Morocco; as well as of the A220 pylons in Wichita, Kansas, U.S.
With this agreement, Airbus aims to ensure stability of supply for its commercial aircraft programmes through a more sustainable way forward, both operationally and financially, for the various Airbus work packages that Spirit AeroSystems is responsible for today.
The transaction would cover the acquisition of these activities. Airbus will be compensated by payment of $559 million from Spirit AeroSystems, for a nominal consideration of $1.00, subject to adjustments including based on the final transaction perimeter.
Entering into definitive agreements remains subject to an ensuing due diligence process. Whilst there is no guarantee that a transaction will be concluded, all parties are willing and interested to work in good faith to progress and complete this process as timely as possible.
$0.559 billion, in fact. It appears the parts of Spirit Aerosystems that Airbus would acquire are more of a burden than a boon to the current owner(s).What is surprising is that Airbus get compensated $0,5B before further discussions.
The all-stock deal, that values the supplier at $4.7 billion, or $37.25 per share, was announced Monday after months of discussions between Boeing and the company it spun off in 2005. Boeing in March announced its intention to buy Spirit, saying recombining the companies would boost safety.
The total transaction value is approximately $8.3 billion, including Spirit’s last reported net debt.
How do I know you're full of it and have an axe to grind?No. All pilots have that responsibility.
Since they were aware of passengers reports, they could have simply directed the cabin crew to confirm/infirm the report (fresh air abnormally entering the cabin) and, in case of any doubts, direct one of them to pass their hands around the joint while in flight*. Easy and Quick.
Pilots are not requested to be Engineers or Mechanics. But they are trained and supposed to make themselves proficient to troubleshoot safety problems (at least alert when a potential one surface). There is much more than starring at charts or the 1st class menu.
*They are the ones supposed to know that there is an emergency exit hidden there