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To recap, in the OT section the articles on the Boeing situation are as follows:SEATTLE (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday it has opened an investigation into Boeing after the beleaguered company reported that workers at a South Carolina plant falsified inspection records on certain 787 planes. Boeing said its engineers have determined that misconduct did not create “an immediate safety of flight issue.”
Scott Stocker, who leads the 787 program, said a worker observed an “irregularity” in a required test of the wing-to-body join and reported it to his manager. “After receiving the report, we quickly reviewed the matter and learned that several people had been violating Company policies by not performing a required test, but recording the work as having been completed” [said] Stocker. He added that Boeing notified the FAA and is taking “swift and serious corrective action with multiple teammates”.
No planes have been taken out of service, but having to perform the test out of order on planes will slow the delivery of jets still being built at the final assembly plant in North Charleston, South Carolina. The 787 is a two-aisle plane that debuted in 2011 and is used mostly for long international flights.
“The company voluntarily informed us in April that it may not have completed required inspections to confirm adequate bonding and grounding where the wings join the fuselage on certain 787 Dreamliner airplanes,” the agency said in a written statement. "Boeing must also create a plan to address planes that are already flying" the FAA said.
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https://www.cbc.ca/archives/when-a-metric-mix-up-led-to-the-gimli-glider-emergency-1.4754039
As @Old_Joe noted earlier, there’s an excellent discussion of the 737-Max design & safety issues
ongoing in the “Off Topic” section.
"FAA says safety ‘not speed’ will decide how long Boeing jets are grounded"
- ”Analysts, Unfazed By 737 Max 9 Grounding, Say Spirit And Boeing Stock Are Buys”
https://www.investors.com/news/boeing-stock-spirit-still-a-buy-with-analysts-unfazed-by-737-max-9-grounding/
- “The order, which the FAA said affected 171 aircraft, requires inspections the FAA says will take four to eight hours per aircraft.”
https://www.investors.com/news/boeing-737-max-loses-emergency-door-in-flight-eyes-turn-to-spirit/
- ”Doing some rough math … , it's likely that there are anywhere between 7,782 and 8,755 commercial planes in the air on average at any given time these days.”
https://www.travelandleisure.com/airlines-airports/number-of-planes-in-air
Boeing's goodwill and intangible assets (don't have a breakdown) have been in a steady albeit slow decline since June 2019, down from $12B to $10B. (The 737 MAX line was first grounded in March 2019. Coincidence?) This latest brouhaha is not going to help its reputation.
https://finbox.com/NYSE:BA/explorer/goodwill_intangibles/
There are three types of product defects - design, manufacture, and labeling. (If that third one sounds strange, take a look at the warnings up and down the side of an extension ladder - lawyers at work.)
When multiple airlines find the same problem with a plane, it's not a failure of airline maintenance, it's a failure of the product. Boeing just admitted this. It's saying that this was a quality control problem.
https://www.fidelity.com/news/article/top-news/202401091904RTRSNEWSCOMBINED_KBN33T0AT-OUSBS_1 (Reuters)
Boeing's reputation takes another hit with 737 Max 9 accident
Only - it’s a “seller’s market”. The similar sized Airbus product (A-319 / 320) is from what I hear completely sold out for several years. So Boeing’s products might stink, but airlines are desperate for new product.
Apparently China has a similar sized plane either in production or about to begin production. There’s speculation it might fill the gap - obviously with huge ramifications for the industry and global trade.
These mid-sized single-aisle planes seem to be the “sweet spot” for airlines. They allow for near 100% occupancy per flight while providing plenty of booking latitude (ie schedule choice) for passengers. Two or three decades ago they were envisioned by the airlines more as short / intermediate haul aircraft with larger twin-aisle jets doing most of the longer haul work. Didn’t work out that way in practice. Might help explain the backlog for this size plane.
Just last month, Boeing asked the FAA to waive a safety regulation through May 2026 so that it could deliver MAX 7s. This latest hit to Boeing's safety reputation is not going to help Boeing make its case with the FAA. And it's not going to help sustain airlines' demand. https://apnews.com/article/boeing-exemption-safety-rules-max-10be423759080f64d4418019e4e4874d
For some reason, it has stuck to the damaged brand name "737 MAX".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing
Check my last post in that thread for the explanation.
This latest update is 1/10/24, 3:24 PM (PST)
The latest update is 1/11/24, 1:09 PM (PST)
The latest update is 1/12/24, 10:16 AM (PST)
@Old_Joe Thanks for the depth of research you’ve been doing. Hope others are availing themselves of your multiple threads on this topic over in the OT section. Some amazing graphs, diagrams, etc.
Myself? - You’ve certainly made the case not to invest in Boeing. I’d invest in dead fish first!
I also liked the old FA format, for the same reasons. But you'll recall that Roy was real strict about subject matter, unlike MFO.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/boeing-plane-loses-a-wheel-on-runway-it-s-another-setback-for-the-stock/ar-BB1hbsWx
"...It’s a surprising occurrence. The airline involved was Delta Air Lines, which Delta didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment..."
Airlines Hoping for More Boeing Jets Could Be Waiting Awhile
To recap, in the OT section the articles on the Boeing situation are as follows:
• 1/7/24: Yet More Trouble on the Boeing 737... so it's asking for an exemption to safety rules
• 1/8/24: United finds loose bolts on Boeing jets grounded after blowout incident
• 1/9/24: FAA says safety ‘not speed’ will decide how long Boeing jets are grounded
• 1/10/24: Boeing 737 Max 9: A closer look at the much-discussed "missing bolts" -
• 1/11/24: F.A.A. Investigating Whether Boeing 737 Max 9 Conformed to Approved Design
• 1/12/24: FAA to increase oversight of Boeing citing ‘other manufacturing problems'
• 1/22/24: FAA: Airlines should check the door plugs on another model of Boeing plane
• 1/23/24: United Airlines re Boeing: "The Straw That Broke the Camel's Back"
• 1/24/24: Boeing's quality control: "A rambling, shambling, disaster waiting to happen"
• 1/25/24: Alaska holds Boeing accountable, wants to be made whole for $150M in losses
• 1/25/24: Airlines Hoping for More Boeing Jets Could Be Waiting Awhile