Boeing Screwed Up 737 MAX, Blamed Pilots

When it became clear that the Boeing 737 had reached the end of its lifecyle and couldn’t compete with newer Airbus A320, the company’s aerospace engineers wanted to design a new model from scratch to maximize performance and safety. Corporation executives, focused on costs and shareholder profits, insisted that they tarted up the old 737 and called it the “737 MAX.” Worse, Boeing facilities, once centralized in Seattle, were now scattered around the country, so designers, engineers, and test pilots couldn’t communicate as readily.

When the “new” 737 MAX planes began falling out of the sky, Boeing executives quickly blamed the failures on “pilot error,” not their own disasterous decisions.

More:

“Boeing knew doomed 737-MAX plane was ‘pig with lipstick’ but still let it fly,” Gavin Newsham, NY Post

“How Shareholder Capitalism Crashed a Plane (Two, Actually),” Moe Tkacik, New York Magazine

“Boeing built an unsafe plane, and blamed the pilots when it crashed,” Peter Robison, Business Live

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Boeing Stops Production of 737 Max 8 Passenger Planes

Boeing has stopped production of 737 Max 8 jets until FAA regulators say they’re safe to fly. Two of those planes crashed, killing 346 people, after FAA regulators originally took Boeing’s assurances that the planes were good to go. De-regulation kills.

More:

“Boeing suspends production of 737 Max model involved in fatal crashes,” Dominic Rushe, The Guardian

Related:

“How Did the F.A.A. Allow the Boeing 737 Max to Fly?” John Cassidy, The New Yorker

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Boeing Finally Grounds All Remaining 737 Max 8 Planes

Many global air carriers stopped flying their Boeing 737 Max 8 airliners after the fatal crash of that model in Ethiopia on Monday, but President Trump (“I like stupid pilots“), who often chats with Boeing’s CEO (a major campaign donor and lobbyist) put it off until late Wednesday. By then, some US travelers scheduled to fly on Max 8s were rebooking.

Boeing had devised a software update for the Max 8 after a similar fatal crash in Indonesia in October, but FAA approval was reportedly delayed by the Trump government shutddown. In the words of the president, “God Bless Boeing.”

More:

“How Did the F.A.A. Allow the Boeing 737 Max to Fly?” John Cassidy, The New Yorker

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Image tweaked by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com`

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NASA’s Rocket Racer Names New US Astronauts

NASA Administrator and former rocket racer Jim Bridenstine, the first non-scientist to head the U.S. space agency, has introduced the first U.S. astronauts since Evel Knievel the Space Shuttle crews retired. These space voyagers won’t be traveling aboard NASA rockets, but will ascend through the firmament atop commercial missiles provided by SpaceX and Boeing.

Another way to think about this: The Trump Administration is providing potential human sacrifices to corporate America and paying them for it.

When Administrator Bridenstine was a Republican Congressman from Oklahoma, he led GOP efforts to commercialize space and prioritize human space stunts missions over scientific discovery. As Executive Director of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum, Mr. Bridenstine put the museum in the hole by using its resources to fund a Rocket Racing League exhibition. One of the owners of the Rocket Racing League was Jim Bridenstine. Commercializing space, indeed.

God help our new astronauts.

Boeing Planes Will Have Self-Cleaning Toilets for Fastidious Fliers

Engineers at Boeing Research & Technology (BR&T) are testing an airplane lavatory that cleans itself of microorganisms with ultraviolet light. Maybe they can fix that smelly hand soap while they’re in there. The UV light isn’t the kind that will give you a tan, so you’ll have to wait until your plane lands in Hawaii. Actually, the purifying lights won’t go on at all if someone is in the john.

We don’t know how the competition will respond to this tech development. Will the new Air France toilets have bidets? Peut-être.

Air Tanker Bidding Tanks, Big Time

 

Forget Wikileaks. The Air Force doesn’t need help in spilling secrets — it delivers confidential bid data directly to competing defense contractors. An Air Force clerical error sent Boeing bidding information to competitor EADS and vice versa, fouling up the $40 billion contract for a mid-air refueling tanker plane that has been delayed for a decade.

The tanker dogfight began in 2001, when ex-fighter pilot Senator John McCain (R-AZ) shot down a Boeing deal. In the bidding war that followed, Boeing offered a job to the Air Force officer running the bid. Two Boeing execs were went down in flames and did jail time, and the firm’s CEO quit.