Read First if flying on a Boeing 737 Max–or maybe not!

[Ed P]

As said before, I would now take positive steps to avoid flying Boeing, but that sort of action does not cover every eventuality.

I can still recollect a China Airlines flight (on an Airbus) from Beijing to Xiamen (South East China). My boss and I were ensconced in the front row in first class (I was his bag carrier/local expert), and we had just been served lunch. We were happily sitting back enjoying it, when the pilot’s cabin door opened and all four flight crew trooped out (propping open the door with a shoe), sat down and started on their lunch as well. As I was well versed in the somewhat frightening habits of Chinese aircrew I was relatively relaxed. Not so my boss who lost a lot of face by yelling and screaming – “Who’s flying the frigging plane?!”

[Bob Williams]

That’s a cracker Ed. Once taking an interminable trip via RAF Hercules along with other Brown Jobs packed into the fuselage. The atmosphere became fuggier and fuggier, with squaddies smoking, eating from ration packs and redirecting internal gases that were the inevitable result of such fare. We were on canvas seats that could be detached, so waited for our tiny CSM to fall into a beer-induced sleep, then detached him, seat and all. We left him in a dark compartment near the tail and debarked at RAF Lyneham. We heard evidence of his annoyance as we boarded our trucks, he was very loud for a small guy.

Extra Drill for us, before we could take Disembarkation Leave.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Ed P]

When a company is staggering there is nothing like putting the boot in. A retired Quality Inspector revealed that he had asked the FAA to investigate safety complaints, but the FAA refused on the grounds that Boeing said they were already addressing problems. Beeb link.

However, some of his allegations are fairly horrifying and makes me wonder about some of the 737 crashes in the 1990s.

“He claims that under-pressure workers even fitted sub-standard parts from scrap bins to aircraft on the production line, in at least one case with the knowledge of a senior manager. He says this was done to save time, because “Boeing South Carolina is strictly driven by schedule and cost”.

[Ed P]

Yet another Boeing quality issue emerges but this time closer to home. The pretty much all-Boeing airline RyanAir has had to take at least three planes out of service because of critical cracks in their wing roots. link

[Ed P]

Boeing have done it again —- Lost in Space!

Boeing is not only a failure in the airline industry, but it also screwed up its attempts to enter the commercial space race with its Starliner.

Unfortunately its oh-so-(un)reliable instrumentation and control inserted the spacecraft into the wrong orbit!

The quote from NASA sums it up:

“NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine explained the spacecraft “believed it was in an orbital insertion burn” and “burned more fuel than anticipated to maintain precise control.”

The lesson is obvious. Don’t book a place on the first Boeing flight to the moon, it might believe you meant to go to Pluto!

 

 

[Bob Williams]

And Boeing have suspended manufacture of any further 737-Max aircraft. Possibly because there is not enough Parking Space left, but also FAA has refused certification: –

http://tinyurl.com/ssrtmjt

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Wheels-Of-Fire]

I suggest they let me rewrite their control software in Atari basic. I am still having trouble with the bugs in my Sudoku solver program but at least I can see them !

[Bob Williams]

Reading further into the Boeing Starliner space craft launch, Boeing say that, had a human NASA astronaut crew been aboard, they would have been perfectly capable of correcting the orbit path.

This is all about the USA’s continuing dependence upon Russian launch facilities, and the occasional European launcher from EUSA. Much egg upon American faces, much quiet satisfaction from Russia.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Ed P]

The German ‘Chaos Computer Club’ are renowned  for publishing articles that embarrass large companies that cut corners or ignore safety/security. In this one hour presentation they turn their spotlight on the 737Max. This is an extremely detailed presentation by an experienced flight safety engineer.

Needless to say it is a very damning report. The more you fight the (Boeing) flight control system the more it tries to kill you!

[Ed P]

The problem with kicking Boeing when they are down has reached the point of no longer being able to get that same delicious sense of schadenfreude, as it happens too often.

This week’s Boeing boing, is not for the Max, but all their NG line (the ones actually presently in service), this time it is about the screens in the pilot cabin going blank when they try to land at certain airports. Luckily most of these are in the US or South America with none in Europe!  One problem is understandable if not excusable, but this latest news is really a condemnation of the whole company. El Reg Link

The horrible thing is that they really do not know what causes this problem. The quote from the FAA is almost terrifying in its lack of a rationale.

“…  the seven runways had “latitude and longitude values” that “triggered the blanking behaviour”, suggesting some kind of memory interaction between onboard computers causing the screens to stop displaying any information until a different runway was selected in the flight plan.”

It is just a software bug . . .

[Richard]

Could it be because the previous model and did not want you to land, so they brought out the MAX with the hard landing option function?

Seriously, there is something bad about their operation. Could it be that they outsourced too much and found out later that the plugs might fit together, but the interworking did not fit the story?

[Richard]

The unfortunate even in Iran involving a 737 will add a little more doubt to the Boeing mix. Though in this case there is less reason to suspect they were at major fault. There are many possible players, so only a fool or wild guess person would try to call out odds. So, no doubt every newspaper and pundit will want to rush in blindly.

[Ed P]

The Ukrainian plane crash is a big question mark. I wonder why the Beeb are not showing the full video of the plane circling with an engine/wing fire. The plane attempts a turn back to the airport then loses control and crashes. The Beeb only shows the last few seconds.

link

[Richard]

I cannot comment on the BBC coverage except that perhaps they did not have access to the video at the time. Today there is very open discussion of the domed plane’s apparent attempts to return, on fire and ‘with bits falling off’. Concern is being expressed that the investigation may be hampered by political posturing over by whom and how black boxes may be examined. An engine may have failed but the question being asked is why no radio messages or SOS?

Speculation is unlikely to help anyone.

[Ed P]

Richard, the video was a Twitter feed so readily available.

I found the Beeb coverage misleading by their edit of this video, as they even had ‘an expert’ saying that it could not be an engine problem otherwise they would have attempted to return.

If the Beeb was at that time trying not to pour petrol onto the Iran situation they would have been better to have said nothing rather than give a half-baked report.

[Richard]

I did not see any of last night’s coverage so cannot fuel that discussion. Today’s reading is far more focused after trying to sift through the speculative dross. The plane has been reported as climbing to 8000 feet above sea level, an increase of over 4000 feet above sea level, as the airport is above sea level. At that point all information abruptly ceased. The experts commented that this is not the usual signature of an engine failure, as the craft is certified to fly on one engine and on board services should not be imperilled. Today’s comments suggests that a return was attempted, though given the now apparent failure of electrical and radio service one might speculate how likely a controlled return would be. I will leave that to others. I do have my own private thoughts, but they are hardly relevant so have no value and can add nothing. Information is all, and it should be called evidence but these days who will know?

That is as far as I want to stray onto the grass marked speculation. The refusal of the Iranians to allow either Boeing or the USA to play any part in the black box analysis might be a complicating factor. To clarify, they can and should legally take control of the investigation in this way. I am not implying any malign intent by this action.

[Ed P]

If you watch the Twitter video you will see that the ‘attempt’ to make a turn did not last very long and was followed by a small explosion then loss of control. The Ukrainians have stated that they will be investigating a number of possible causes.

There is a lot of Iran/USA distrust so I would read nothing into their refusal to give Boeing the Black Box.

[Richard]

I suggest that your statement and mine are compatible. We may never know how controlled the last parts of the flight were, but it clearly did not end well. Why it ended badly will require careful and possibly expensive analysis until then speculation should be stilled. I hope that the precise analysis of who did what and when will emerge, but I admit to lacking enough forensic skills to interpret any night-time video. The black boxes are reported to have been damaged with the loss of some data, that would not be a good start.

Can we agree that no one gains from a mess like this?

[Richard]

Today has brought two further items in the form of news reports.

Boeing is accused of questionable standards  developing their 737 Max simulator.

Today’s tone of suggestions about the recent crash now have darker shade.

I guess both issues have legs as the press were once wont to say.

[Bob Williams]

It begins to look as if the ‘missile attack’ scenario is gaining credence. I am now waiting for conspiracy theorists to suggest that the USA launched a missile in order to blame Iran and make the rest of the world believe that Iran should be ostracised even more.

What a mess nations make of their relations with each other.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Author]

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