I had to look that one up.
Posted on 05/13/2008 8:09:26 PM PDT by denydenydeny
FBI Monitoring 'Incident' At Ridley Township Plant
RIDLEY TOWNSHIP, Pa. (CBS3/AP) ― Boeing Rotorcraft Systems temporarily shut down a production line for several hours Tuesday at its suburban Philadelphia plant because of possible irregularities discovered in two military helicopters.
The company disclosed few specifics about why the shutdown of the H-47 Chinook helicopter line at the plant in Ridley Township, Pa., occurred. It said an investigation was under way and it was working with the Defense Contract Management Agency, which oversees military suppliers.
Boeing officials said they discovered "irregularities" in two of the aircrafts that were being assembled at the plant. The nature of the irregularities was not immediately known.
Jack Satterfield, a company spokesman, said workers were expected to report for work Wednesday, even as the investigation continued.
Rep. Joe Sestak, a Democrat whose district includes the plant, said he was told during a briefing that wires that appeared to be broken or severed were found in one helicopter and a suspicious washer was found in a second.
Sestak said the assessment was preliminary and he expects that the findings of a more thorough review would be available on Wednesday. He praised Boeing's handling of the situation, and said it was much too early to speculate on what happened.
Satterfield said the shutdown was isolated to the line at the Pennsylvania plant and does not affect operational aircraft.
The Chinook is known as the Army's workhorse aircraft. It is used to transport troops and supplies.
Boeing is currently producing new Chinooks for the Army, as well as updating older models.
A message left Tuesday evening with the Defense Contract Management Agency was not immediately returned.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Thanks for the info, glad to hear that.
My guess is some of the “peace loving” anti-military SOB’s that infest that area. I grew up by the Boeing plant when it was Vertol, after Piasecki, and started my military career in the area. In the early 1980’s I was an 18 year old Navy aircrewman stationed at NAS Willow Grove. A group called the “Epiphany Plowshares” cut through the fence and sabotaged a number of airplanes including one I was scheduled to fly on that morning. This group consisted of priests and nuns from some wacky pseudo-Catholic order and the usual moonbats. I always thought it funny that their desire for peace and non-violence didn’t include myself or my twelve shipmates who would have perished when the plane either exploded on engine start or crashed on takeoff!
The saddest part of this is that if I remember correctly, these bastards were never convicted! They would disrupt the proceedings until there was a mistrial. This occured several times and I think the Feds finally gave up trying to prosecute them. I always wished that the sailor on duty who caught them would have been armed with a .45 instead of a nightstick. Would have settled the matter once and for all, and maybe set an example for the other traitors out there!
Anybody remember this???
I had to look that one up.
Thanks for the pic, CS.
Pretty formidable looking.
Hard to believe, but I saw a Military Channel feature on helocopters and an Apache driver said it was always embarassing but the Chinook could outrun the Apache. The Chinook was faster than his bird.
Some designs never die....ie: the B-52.
I'd imagine there could be foreign born ones working on the Chinook line as well. I doubt that anything more than a criminal background check is required for most line positions. The only "high tech" stuff gets put on right at the end. Not even sure if Boeing does it, or they send it out somewhere else. I know the Special Ops version gets sent out for it's goodies, same for the Sikorsky H-60 special ops version. I've been in the factory where that is done, and the Sikorsky factory too, both over 20 years ago. I've only driven by the Boeing Vertrol one, and that was even longer ago.
Once upon a time, a flier could expect to change types several times in his career. Now pilots and crew are flying the same types, and some cases the same aircraft by tail number, as their fathers and even grandfathers flew. (last B-52 off the line was built in '62, (Tail number 61-040) a mid career type could have flown a it at say 35 or 40, his kid could have flow it in around 1970 or '75, and his grandkid could be flying it now. Perhaps from the same base (Minot) where grandpa flew it after it was first delivered.
They have:
Of course the way Congress funds the military they will be several decades replacing the Chinooks.
Don't know about wartime sabotage laws, but the Constitutional definition of treason does not depend on the nation being formally at war, only that it has enemies, and that someone gives them aid or comfort to those enemies, or making war upon the United States. Lord knows we have enemies, many right here at home, and sabotaging military equipment would certainly give them aide, and could easily be construed as making war.
The penalty for treason is death.
A really big 'chute would probably work better, maybe complemented by a smaller airbag.
Of course the Chinook, and other twin rotor helicopters, such as the CH-46 Sea Knight, can have midair collisions with themselves.
Unless the Rent a Cops have some, which is unlikely, I doubt there are any in the place.
I worked at KAMAN Aerospace for 11 years, I saw some pretty stupid stuff by our own people
How’s the safety record of the V-22?
Not so great during developmental testing, which is normal, and early operational testing, which is less so. They lost a load of Marines during OT. But since they've been declared operational, just fine.
“Everyone working on that Helicopter has a DOD clearance. It takes over a year to get cleared and it must be updated every five years.”
Yeah...and we drug test in my union...
only catches the stupid...
*whistles innocently*
I am not so sure about the V-22. In fact, a cursory search on the subject showed that autorotation in the V-22 is unsafe.
That said, the V-22 is still an exciting piece of machinery, and will still certainly fill a niche.
Well, one guy I worked with in the mid 80s was an Army test pilot, (test such as after major maintainence actions) qualified to fly ever sort of helicopter then in the inventory. He hated to fly the Chinook, he knew too much about the drive train. One gear tooth out of line, and the rotor blades will hit each other. No autorotation possible if the blades are broken. But it is a sturdy aircraft.
IIRC, Both the CH-47 and the V-22 have the engines cross coupled to both rotors/props. Thus something would have to take out both engines or the transfer mechanism, for there to be a need to autorotate. Plus the V-22 can glide, not well, but better than any pure helicopter. Landings would be messy if you can’t get the engines titled up. Probably survivable though.
To my knowledge, no intermeshing rotor configuration has ever had an accident due to a breakdown of the synchronization mechnism (blade collision). Not to say it hasn't happened or isn't possible.
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