Lawsuit claims Boeing planes had defective parts

The Kansas City Star ^ | May 27, 2005

[IonImplantGuru]

Why am I not surprised that so many small planes fall out of the sky?

No offense, Granny, but Boeing doesn't make 'small planes'; they make BIG planes! And - statistically speaking - per million miles flown very few of them 'fall out of the sky.'

- SE_AZ_Grandpa

[ScreamingFist]

I>A federal court filing said the parts ended up on $1.5 billion worth of planes delivered to the U.S. Air Force and Navy and foreign military forces, including ones in Japan, Italy, Turkey and Australia.

[IonImplantGuru]

"A federal court filing said the parts ended up on $1.5 billion worth of planes delivered to the U.S. Air Force and Navy and foreign military forces, including ones in Japan, Italy, Turkey and Australia."

Doh! I saw the reference to "Commercial Aircraft Division" and that's what stuck in my brain; the sentence you've supplied slipped under my radar somehow.

NJGent: Like the followup to an Emily Latella rant on SNL ...

"Oh! Never mind."

[ScreamingFist]

I was as confused as you. Perhaps the parts were in a military transport/tanker model.

[pfflier]

There is more here than meets the eye.

I agree. This could be nothing more than problems with a certification of conformance or something similar.

As usual, the sensationalism of the subject implies airworthiness and/or safety problems yet we know no facts. I would strongly suspect the motives of these three employees (considering the hundreds or thousands that may be familiar with the issue). What exactly drove them to this revelation? That is a key part of this story yet to be told.

[Righty_McRight]

By the way. These three worked at one of the plants that Boeing is trying to sell to Onex. They might of lost their jobs in the deal.

[monkeywrench]

Maybe they're complaining as a proxy to the whining french. They got real quiet suddenly.

[boris]

When I was just a junior engineer with Rockwell I found myself next to the chief structural engineer for Boeing on a 737. We talked a long time. He was extremely proud of his airplanes; "won't fly on anything else," he said. He told me lots of interesting stories. At least then there was pride and integrity in the commercial airplane division.

Now the military division is essentially McDonnell-Douglas, once headed by Harry "Dipstick" Stonecipher, a man wihout scruple or ethics. What to say?

Now I am a Boeing employee but my division is about to be sold to UTC.

--Boris