Posted on 01/10/2020 6:59:02 AM PST by Erik Latranyi
The release of a batch of internal messages has raised more questions about the safety of Boeing's 737 Max. In one of the communications, an employee said the plane was "designed by clowns". The planemaker described the communications as "completely unacceptable". The 737 Max was grounded in March 2019 after two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, which killed almost 350 people in total.
Boeing said it had released the hundreds of redacted messages as part of its commitment to transparency. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and US Congress were given unredacted versions of the communications last month.
"These communications do not reflect the company we are and need to be, and they are completely unacceptable," Boeing said.
One unnamed employee wrote in an exchange of instant messages in April 2017: "This airplane is designed by clowns who in turn are supervised by monkeys."
The documents, which have been published by the Washington Post, appear to show that Boeing rejected pilots being trained on simulators, which would have led to higher costs for its customers, making its aircraft less attractive.
"I want to stress the importance of holding firm that there will not be any type of simulator training required to transition from NG to Max," Boeing's 737 chief technical pilot at the time, Mark Forkner, said in a March 2017 email.
"Boeing will not allow that to happen. We'll go face to face with any regulator who tries to make that a requirement."
On Tuesday this week, Boeing reversed its position by recommending 737 Max simulator training for all pilots.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
You nailed it my friend. With 35 years as an aeronautical Engineer, it’s common to have the manufacturing people lament procedures, avoid short cuts, that generally make their job harder. This is not just Boeing, but every aircraft manufacturer, military, and commercial. Left to do our jobs, the worker bee engineers and designers are devoted, talented, competent people. Management, left alone, are competent, responsible people, the problem has ALWAYS laid at the feet of the bean counters, and the bottom line..delivering aircraft at a specific time to meet funding requirements and shipping requirements.
“Because of their size and weight, the engines had to be mounted at a different location on the wings, causing a significant weight shift. “
Not just that but they had more power. So during take off and climb out that extra thrust, that is below the center of mass, changes out the plane behaves. They patched that with software to make it behave the ‘same’ as the NG. And we have seen how well that worked.
The FAA said, however, that the messages do not raise new safety concerns although “the tone and content of some of the language contained in the documents is disappointing”.
Boeing said the communications “do not reflect the company we are and need to be, and they are completely unacceptable”.
In short they are blaming the messenger and will coverup their liability in causing nearly 400 dead.
I’m thinking some of the negative emails are from union pukes trying to destroy Boeing for moving some production out of Seattle to South Carolina.
They figured it was racist.....................
Considering the enormity of the errors in the engineering of the MCAS system then I would say that we already knew this.
Now we know that there were those wise voices in the darkness that were crying out for sanity. But nobody would listen to them.
I will quietly wait for the apologies from the people here who told me I was wrong when I told them point blank BOEING engaged in criminal malfeasance to get this plane certified.
I told them there was no way the model of this plane involved in these crashes could have gotten certified as air worthy without Boeing lying, directly, or by intentional omission, to the FAA.
I said there was no doubt in my mind you would find engineers and others raise concerns and that management would ignore them or override them.
There are people in Boeing who should be facing 350+ counts of second degree murder charges.. and others who should be facing RICO and othe conspiracy charges. The fact no one... no one.. has been frog marched out of Boeing’s offices is a travesty.
I know the apologies will never come, but I will wait quietly.
It bears mention that the BBC is every bit as far left as Pravda and they have a vested interest in the decline and fall of all things American.
So consider the source.
I tend to blame the main office’s move from Seattle to Chicago more than the workers.
” It’s been known from early in this debacle. Boeing wanted to avoid the Max becoming an entirely new type of aircraft that would have made it noncompetitive.”
How competitive are they NOW?
It’s dead, Jim.
At this point, its getting harder and harder to see how this plane will ever win over the flying public....... The longer this goes on the more the public will simply choose a different flight than get on one of these things....
And by the time this is all said and done you will find out a lot worse than what has come out so far.
And I bet those monkeys have an MBA degree! The most harmful degree to the American spirit anyone could obtain. Corporate leadership with people that have MBA’s is the death knell of any company!
The assembly workers are Machinist and the designers/engineers are SPEEA. There’s no feud quite like it.
I hadn’t thought it was a union feud. Good point.
I totally agree with you.
This is criminal negligence
They already have and will pay much, much more but
try not to think of it as "Boeing" but roughly 100K citizens working
for an American company and thousands of affiliates and stockholders
all paying that heavy price.
Here is what I think is the definitive research into the entire sordid affair by Juan Brown
Juan is a highly experienced 777 pilot with many qualifications both military and civilian.
I first heard of him from the Oroville Dam Emergency Spillway Failure
You check out his entire in depth analysis here
it's lengthy enough so a layman can understand but not overly detailed and boring.
If you only want the readers digest version this part (2:40) is where Juan
clearly explains the purpose of MCAS and (at 3:38) states that
"The new Boeing 737 Max IS an inherently stable design"
He goes on to explain that with MCAS disabled
even seasoned 737 pilots couldn't tell the difference.
7
I know more about MCAS than most pilots. I have been studying and watching this closely since Lion Air. I have talked and read what pilots said who actually flew the 737Max and/or the simulator. I have talked and read what engineers have said who helped design various components on the 737NG (most 737Max engineers are not talking).
The 737Max is a Frankenstein. It is amazing, efficient and a feat of engineering. Like Frankenstein’s monster, it is deadly if triggered.
Are you a 737 pilot?
7
My brother is.
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