Boeing’s problems continue

There are 70 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 5,264 times. The latest Post (March 15, 2025 at 4:25 PM) was by UK Man.

    This time, the 787 Dreamliner is in the news. From today’s NYT:

    “Boeing is under yet another F.A.A. investigation: It told regulators it might have skipped required inspections on its 787 Dreamliners, a separate model from the one that lost a panel midflight.“

    How do they come up with “We MAY HAVE” missed an investigation?

    The directors have got a monumental problem in their hands to turn the business around and restore confidence.

    The thing is that whilst Airbus are flourishing, the industry really needs competition and it can only come from Boeing. They’ve got to sort this shit out and fast. It’s an appalling state of affairs.

    The Starliner space module is currently stuck in space

    Having found a problem with a helium leak, shortly before departing the ISS

    How long can a person stay in space?
    Two Nasa astronauts are currently on the International Space Station with no set return date, as crews work to repair the Starliner spacecraft that they…
    www.bbc.co.uk

    The problems for Boeing continue to rack up.

    It’s worrying to me. What a time to launch a space mission when Boeing was already under so much scrutiny.

    Boeing has agreed to a plea deal with the US Justice Dept. The company will plead guilty to a felony of conspiring to defraud the govt, in the cases of the fatal crashes of two 737 Max planes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people.

    In the deal, Boeing will pay the maximum penalty allowed by law, $487.2 million, and will spend a minimum of $455 million to improve its compliance and safety programs. It will also be on strict probation for 3 years.

    Although the victims’ families understandably aren’t happy that the penalties aren’t greater, the DOJ went with “the most serious readily provable offense,” rather than allowing the case to drag on for more and more years. The deal is based on one between Boeing and the DOJ in 2021, that the company would make ‘significant’ safety improvements after these two crashes.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/08/boeing-doj-guilty-plea-deal-00166766

    … and we know these aircraft companies, airlines, car manufacturers etc DO make those calculations. As you say, not very reassuring.

    Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court is reducing regulatory authorities’ legal ability to actually regulate.

    As you board your next flight, will you feel more or less confident than you felt six years ago, before the 2018 crash? I know that, despite the safety emphasis built into the plea deal, I’ll still feel less confident.

    I follow a retired pilot on TikTok. He explained something about a lot of the maintenance and perhaps parts I forget, rules being grandfathered through the 737 fleet across time that just don’t meet today’s requirements. I’ve explained that poorly but you will get the gist as such.

    We need Boeing to function properly for safety first and foremost obviously but also so that there’s fair competition in what is a massive worldwide industry most of us use.

    And I’m going to be sat on a Boeing 777 in 2 weeks time for 15 odd hours which I need to make a post about in my “six months in the Argentine” thread.

    Yeah I will post about it very soon.

    The Chivilcoy Pipe Smokers Club got advanced notice of this development.

    That’s not even a joke; they really did!

    😆

    There are definite quality issues with Boeing. I don't want to be the person who continues rant against DEI, but others, I know I shouldn't take their word for it, but they say that DEI has a lot to do with the quality problems that Boeing is having.

    It seems that some are more interested in TikTok, and announcing their pronouns, than dealing with their jobs

    Awfully easy to blame DEI for all of society’s and industry’s problems. As a concept or practice, it can’t exactly fight back.

    The people who blame DEI in the 2020’s would have blamed racial integration in the 1950’s. Perhaps today’s version was learned from their parents or grandparents.

    Quote from Rice

    Awfully easy to blame DEI for all of society’s and industry’s problems. As a concept or practice, it can’t exactly fight back.

    The people who blame DEI in the 2020’s would have blamed racial integration in the 1950’s. Perhaps today’s version was learned from their parents or grandparents.

    Not really, industries are employing people who clearly are not fit to do the job, based purely on their sexuality, colour of their skin, religion etc...just to tick boxes

    A job should be purely employing people fairly, I agree, but only if they're fit for the job, not just to tick boxes. Racists will do that on the basis of their race and skin colour

    I would employ people only if they're fit for their job. I would immediately close down my business if some government bureaucrat told me that I had to employ people who were just there to tick boxes. I would happily disregard what they do in their private life, so long as it didn't affect the company or they weren't pushing some propaganda

    SpaceNut , please cite evidence of specific companies hiring unqualified workers just to tick boxes? If they exist in reality, not just internet memes and urban myths, I’d like to avoid their products and services.

    I’m unfamiliar with beer advertising or sponsorship, so I’m in terra incognita here. Sponsored for what? A car race? A scholarship? Political office?

    What makes a person qualified or unqualified for the job of being sponsored by a beer company?