Boeing’s on a streak...

Larry in TN said:
Why do you think it's a maintenance issue? Parts break. This is at least the fifth wheel departing incident this year.
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My point was that this doesn't sound like a current Boeing quality issue. You can argue that it's acceptable if maintenance procedures don't prevent critical parts departing the aircraft,and I'm not gonna go down that rabbit hole. It wasn't my point.
 
AviationObserver said:
My point was that this doesn't sound like a current Boeing quality issue. You can argue that it's acceptable if maintenance procedures don't prevent critical parts departing the aircraft,and I'm not gonna go down that rabbit hole. It wasn't my point.
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I don't know the causes of any on the recent wheel PDA events. The ones that I do know the causes of were due to bearing failures which are more likely a result of a manufacturing or material defect.
 
I think it was PT Barnum that allegedly said "There's no such thing as bad publicity." I'm not positive that applies to the airline industry, though.

Slightly related, I always thought this tune was about circuses. Now I think it's what happens when we let to many mergers happen. Maybe those things are the same.

 
I worked at Rockwell Collins during Kelly's tenure and he was very well liked as a CEO. He would often make appearances out of the floor and try to get to know people. Overall a good guy.

I feel a little bad, like he is risking his reputation going over to Boeing. He is certainly a good person for the job though!
 
Kyle N said:
I worked at Rockwell Collins during Kelly's tenure
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Same here. He was several pay grades above me, so our encounters were infrequent, but from the few times I interacted with Kelly at our company I know he is wicked smart and also a very nice human being. Hopefully that and his engineering roots will help Boeing return to a path of technical excellence. I wish him well!

- Martin
 
He's not risking anything. It's win-win for him.
If he fails, Boeing is beyond-help, nobody will fault him. And he gets *paid*
If he succeeds, he's the greatest thing since Flash Gordon. And he gets *paid*
 
Hengelo said:
He's not risking anything. It's win-win for him.
If he fails, Boeing is beyond-help, nobody will fault him. And he gets *paid*
If he succeeds, he's the greatest thing since Flash Gordon. And he gets *paid*
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Understand, but I don’t think money is the big motivation for the kind of leader Boeing needs.
 
Hengelo said:
It’s ego. Always is.
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I disagree. Seemingly rare these days, but there are those individuals who live to serve. They are given great talents through birth or education or both, and they find fulfillment in paying back to their families, communities, or even a great enterprise. I’ve been fortunate to be around some of these exemplars of character, and a notable attribute, consistent with them all, is humility. I believe it is fundamental to inspirational leadership.
 
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At least some good news for my old company

Bombardier’s CEO says the company would be open to buying back the plant in Belfast,Northern Ireland, it sold to Spirit AeroSystems in 2020.
Separately, officials also say that the 18-day strike by Toronto assembly workers in July will not affect 2024 deliveries.

Bombardier is monitoring the status of the site as Spirit reaches agreements with Boeing and Airbus to shed its commercial aerospace operations to the two companies,, Bombardier President and CEO Eric Martel told analysts during a second-quarter financial call. Spirit AeroSystems, based in Wichita, is seeking buyers for the remainder of itsoperations, including the Belfast site.

Bombardier operated the Belfast site for more than three decades before selling it to Spirit as it focused solely on business aviation, Martel says. Therefore, the company
knows the site well.

The facility produces the fuselage of Bombardier Challenger business jets and two its its three Global aircraft, the Global 5500 and 6500, along with engine nacelles and horizontal
stabilizers. It also builds the wing and fuselage for the Airbus A220, which Airbus would
assume in the deal with Spirit. In addition, the Belfast site also has a “nice aftermarket
business,” Martel says. “We’ll see and make sure we’ll exercise our contractual right on
who’s buying,” Martel says. Depending on the buyer, “we could be interested also.”
 
Martin Pauly said:
Hopefully that and his engineering roots will help Boeing return to a path of technical excellence.
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Agreed.

He'll need to make some drastic organization changes and change is always painful. I'd bet he'll need to move a few people toward the exit door. If he just maintains the situation as he finds it he'll fail.
 
Half Fast said:
Agreed.

He'll need to make some drastic organization changes and change is always painful. I'd bet he'll need to move a few people toward the exit door. If he just maintains the situation as he finds it he'll fail.
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First order of business is to get the Starliner astronauts back to earth, alive. Probably the end of this program for NASA.

SpaceX working a plan now
 
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Half Fast said:
You don’t think Boeing has already written them off?
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Calhoun should reimburse Musk for the cost of the return flight. What a mess for 30M+ in salary this year alone. He can take the cost out of petty cash.
 
Martin Pauly said:
Same here. He was several pay grades above me, so our encounters were infrequent, but from the few times I interacted with Kelly at our company I know he is wicked smart and also a very nice human being. Hopefully that and his engineering roots will help Boeing return to a path of technical excellence. I wish him well!

- Martin
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Couldn't agree more. I met Kelly 3 or 4 times during the Rockwell Collins era, always had a positive experience with him. He listened, understood, and seemed to care.
 
It looks like the NASA Boeing Starliner astronauts need to discuss the bonus situation.

 
Half Fast said:
Imagine the alternative: being told you're going to return in the Boeing spacewreck that keeps failing thruster tests and nobody knows why. I wonder if the test rats er, I mean astronauts, are being given much of a voice in the decision.
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Hate to say this, but I think NASA will wait until 2025 (after the election), in case that capsule turns into an inconvenient fireball.
 
If I understand a long con correctly, it's acting in a predictable and responsible manner for a pretty good length of time, to build up credibility that can then be leveraged to take advantage of people's trust in the apparent good will built up. If that's right, it's not just Boeing, but a lot of companies seem to be taking that path.

So a possible solution to that would be to take a page from the movie "Bladerunner", and give large corporations a fixed lifespan. Just flatten them after a period of time, sell off all the assets, and retire the name like they do hurricanes. That might be a bit harsh, but at least have a built in expiry date they can petition to have extended if there's a general perception and agreement that they're beneficial to the rest of us.

Or just automatically split them up as soon as they hit highest gross revenue in their area. That's probably least disruptive and most protective of the country.
 
Its' a financial mindset. You escape before your company collapses.
Thisnk about what it took to depart with an unresolved helium leak....are your F'n KM?
 
StraightnLevel said:
That being said, it is worth asking whether the launch authority actively decided to change their risk tolerance limits in order to approve a launch.
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Well, it’s not like that has never happened before.....


200128114911-01-space-shuttle-challenger-restricted.jpg
 
Just jumping to the engineering of it a bit, somewhere I just read that they're trying to sort out the behavior of the teflon seals as they change temperature and how that actually the ability to make the helium seal. As if this is the first time they've actually tested it across the temperature range?? Which means I'm wondering if they actually simulated rather than tested how the helium system worked across the temperature range and with vacuum on the other side. If they didn't, that makes the Challenger comparison way too close to spot on.

The other thing I wonder is why they chose helium instead of argon if they thought there was any chance of leak. It might not be that much easier to seal, but it's also not that much heavier, compared to the weight of the spacecraft.
 
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StraightnLevel said:
Your first statement is unfortunately true too often.

However, the second is a bit naive. There is no such thing as a perfect system when dealing with the level of complexity of an orbital vehicle. It's all about statistical confidence. The team will never achieve 100% confidence, so they have to evaluate the entirety of the data and decide if the aggregate risk is below their limit.

The mistake being made here is in the belief that spaceflight can be 100% safe.

That being said, it is worth asking whether the launch authority actively decided to change their risk tolerance limits in order to approve a launch.
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I recognize that it can't be made 100% safe, but I had an uneasy feeling when I heard that people were going up in the thing when the immediately previous launch attempt had to be canceled due to a malfunction.
 
A long time ago I read that people designing rockets had to deal with the physical reality of not being able to design a fuel pump that didn't leak, rather they had to figure out how much leakage would be acceptable.
 
Ward Carroll interviews a space expert on the past, present, and future of the International Space Station, including when and how the stranded astronauts are likely to get home.

 
Extra long version of this:

www.redi-exit.com

Fire Escape Ladder

Are you aware the United States has one of the highest fire death rates in the industrialized world? Over 10 people die and 50 are injured in residential fires every day. Half of these deaths occur during the hours of 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM, when most people sleep, although only 25% of theses...
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Speaking as an old Lockheed guy, Boeing seems to be the gift that keeps on giving.....
 
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