scrubbedexpat142

No evidence that EASA regulators have been imbued with the "American Way" but if they have they would be shooting themselves in the foot as many European airlines have a vested interest in the Max's return to service.

dave_j

Plane Wars... https://www.brusselstimes.com/all-ne...-embraer-deal/

scrubbedexpat091

This part is amusing: "the Commission is concerned the deal would reduce competition on the commercial airplane market. "

Funny they didn't seem concerned about reduced competition when Airbus reduced competition by taking over the C Series, now known as the A220.

scrubbedexpat091

United doesn't have any 737NG with over 30,000 cycles so none of their aircraft need to be inspected within 7 days. They have 80 with between 22,600 and 29,999 which will be inspected within the required time frame. United doesn't anticipate any schedule disruptions due to the inspections.

scrubbedexpat091

Of the 500 NG's inspected so far, 5% were found to have cracks, lowest cycle aircraft found with cracks has 23,600 cycles.

A repair line has been set up in Victorville where Boeing will perform the repairs. The first aircraft to have pickle fork replaced begins on Friday and is expected to take 2-3 weeks for the first aircraft which will also serve as the master for a service bulletin on how to do the repair.

Additional repair lines to be set up in Europe and Asia.

https://leehamnews.com/2019/10/08/bo...pickle-part-2/

scrubbedexpat091

American removes MAX for their schedule until January 16, 2020 now.

Estimates at least 400 million in reduced profit for 2019 due to grounding.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/reg...K51Hz_kvAymJsQ

dave_j

Politics and money won't allow it to happen, but who can argue that the MAX doesn't qualify for a full new airframe recertification.
https://www.latimes.com/business/sto...boeing-737-max
It doesn't seem to have had even a scant review of it's design features. I can't understand how Boeing senior management aren't behind bars let alone still running the company.

scrubbedexpat091

Seems in some ways planes might have become too complex for government regulators

dave_j

I hope not, why have government regulators if they're not up to it, might as well sack the lot and take our chances when we choose to fly.
Won't make a difference to the likes of Boeing, they make up the rules as they go along.

scrubbedexpat091

Boeing strips CEO of his role as Chairman of the board.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...jNkwJ2-nCvNrEM

MidAtlantic

Yet more troubling news: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/18/boei...t-737-max.html

The Federal Aviation Administration said Boeing withheld “concerning” messages from 2016 between employees about a flight-control system implicated in two crashes of the 737 Max, deepening the manufacturer’s crisis over the jets that have been grounded worldwide since March.

A Boeing test pilot complained in one of the messages that a flight control system, known as MCAS, was difficult to control, according to the messages, obtained by NBC News.

If a test pilot found it difficult to control MCAS then there was little hope for the guys in the cockpit of the two that crashed.

dave_j

Imagine for one second that......
The MAX had now been flying for a few years without incident, how would we have uncovered the bean-counting culture extant within the Boeing psyche and would we have discovered all those whistle-blower risks that Boeing hid under the carpet?
As it is, Boeing have been rescued from future catastrophe by the MAX accidents. It'll cost them and those in charge rightly deserve to be dumped into an oubliette somewhere..
But those unfortunates who died in the MAX should have all of our thanks, their sacrifice has made flying safer for the rest of us.

scrubbedexpat091

Boeing and 1 federal agency was aware of those text messages since at least February when Boeing gave them to the Dept of Justice who opened an investigation into the MAX development in February, a month before the 2nd crash. Boeing then spent months trying to get the pilot involved to discuss the meaning of the messages but the pilot and his lawyer both refused.

https://www.seattletimes.com/busines...nd-misled-faa/

"Boeing has known about the messages for many months. It provided the exchange in February — the month before the second crash in Ethiopia — to the Department of Justice"

"Boeing did not provide the messages to the FAA because the criminal investigation presumably involved dealings between Boeing and FAA over the certification of the jetliner."

The article isn't in English but has a video of a pickle fork being removed from a 737 having it replaced.

https://www.aeroin.net/video-mostra-...oeing-737-gol/

dave_j

I have to say that when I read what it was and what it did I imagined a component that was a little more robust than that.
Just goes to show than any aircraft I designed wouldn't get off the ground.

scrubbedexpat142

If Boeing is proven liable it will be interesting to compare the total cost to Boeing with the $30 billion incurred by VW - bearing in mind that nobody died as a result of "dieselgate".