Ongoing safety and production issues at Boeing

Seems like it’s always been one thing after another for Boeing and the 787. Battery fire problems towards the beginning, reports of tools and other debris left inside the plane dangerously close to wiring at the Carolina factory, and now improperly manufactured parts that were used for the past three years.

I love the 787 and have flown on it multiple times. Amazing plane with fantastic range, large windows, and more comfortable for long haul because it’s pressurized to a lower altitude. The electrically-tinted window effect is pretty damned cool too. But I won’t be surprised if there’s a catastrophe involving a 787 at some point because some idiot in Carolina left his wrench sitting on some beam in the wing, or because some Boeing contractor was doing shoddy work.

1 Like

Didn’t they move manufacturing to South Carolina to avoid unions?

So much for quality control. That company has really lost the plot lately.

Guy

1 Like

More or less. They got a sweetheart deal from the state government.

As far as your second comment, truly. But I suppose that happened when they moved the executives to Chicago, away from the engineers and assembly crews that actually make shit happen in Seattle, so that the top brass could focus on profit.

Not a safety issue, but a production update, from Boeing:

Guy

All the crap with the 737 MAX 8? It’s unbelievable how low Boeing has gone over the years.

I like the 787s too, nice birds, but Airbus is just killing it with the A350s for long-haul and the A220s for short-haul. They are real jewels. And have yet to find a more overall comfortable airplane than the A380. It is damn quiet that thing, and still quite spacious.

They ought to get their shit back together or even big loyal customers might start transitioning to Airbus.

Well to be fair to Boeing that Airbus venture . . . did not quite work out. Much like Boeing has abandoned the 747, Airbus has abandoned the A380 as smaller more fuel efficient aircraft are now the order of the day.

Guy

Let’s see, Emirates is quite pissed off for this, it wouldn’t be unlinkely for airbus to roll out an update A380Neo for instance, not an entirely new aircraft.

But yes, for 90% of the market smaller planes make more sense, but the Queen of the skies and the A380 will forever be in my heart

50 people injured after Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner ‘nosedives’ due to a technical issue

1 Like

Related…he just gave a deposition last week, too. :skull_and_crossbones:

1 Like

More problems

Yeah, something majorly is fuqqed up at the company.
The video of the door plug handling on that Alaska Airline, where the door fell from the sky over Portland, has been scrubbed/blacked over.

Flying with BR on their 777s in a couple of weeks… Never had any anxiety flying those marvellous workhorses, but now I can only rely on BR best maintenance practices…

Hmm whistleblower found dead in the middle of his deposition hearing. Wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened.

1 Like

Finally, the airline industry has realized it’s full potential by taking notes from the automotive industry, and disposable garbage-aligned manufacturing industry at large. Bravo Boeing. Keep it up, and you will join Elon Musk in the move to China.

1 Like

These planes can be old and tired in some instances, but their engineering and safety record have never been an issue.

Guy

3 Likes

Boeing is run by bean counters, but more importantly they got some serious government connections due to all the military contract they do. They’re “too big to fail”.

They’re probably no different than Comac at this point.

That they can assassinate whistleblowers or critics tells me a lot.

3 Likes

True, absolute marvels of engineering and reliability.

1 Like

I would be terrified if I found my flight was in the 737 max :sweat_smile:

1 Like

As you know from other posts , I was in Genova


Hitachi is here (as well in other cities, Hitachi Rail Italy S.p.A based in Tuscany) building rail cars that can be seem in Taipei’s metro as well other places.
Anyways was chating about the USA was once the biggest big rail builder, but now it’s Euro companies, Japan, Korea and China companies that dominate. Seems like have wonder about passenger planes now, Euro (Airbus ^ ATR) starting to dominate, hope Boeing can change for the good and not follow passenger rail in USA (most USA passenger carriages are built by Japanese or Euro companies now)

2 Likes