Boeing 737 missing door report

doh!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68584134

This one is a complete non story imho. A small non structural opening hatch has detached. Without the recent incidents this would barely make the local rag.

Boeing unable to find the repair worksheet/ chain of custody documentation, crew chief is off on med leave and unable to answer questions regarding who carried out the door plug work.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/03/boeing-door-plug-probe-stalled-by-missing-records-overwritten-security-footage/

Oh, and the whistleblower..

https://abcnews4.com/news/local/if-anything-happens-its-not-suicide-boeing-whistleblowers-prediction-before-death-south-carolina-abc-news-4-2024

This is a bigger story, but quite likely just a one-off freak occurrence. The cause was apparently a switch used to control the pilot’s seat position jammed and the pilot was pushed onto the control column and force the aircraft into a dive.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68488418

Is that like a seat in a 2dr hatch back car, where if you pull the lever to get into the back seat, the seat violently springs forward and hits the dashboard?

Nice design. Perfect for a pilot’s seat…

Apparently the switch was not installed properly and is on the back of the seat so the pilot can’t access it from the seat. Thing for me is that surely there is a forward limit to the seat travel to avoid things like this happening. Maybe it was an unusually large pilot.

NEW: CNN obtains Boeing’s memo to airlines, warning them of “unintentional” movement of the Boeing 787 pilot seats via seatback rocker switch. The memo follows Monday’s LATAM in-flight jolt. pic.twitter.com/ztWKSrMZDL

— Pete Muntean (@petemuntean) March 15, 2024

Lol… I mean WTF?.. I mean JFC…

Ryan air saying they are finding random spanners and dirty rags under the floorboards..

Now boeing are saying they can’t even install the pilots seat correctly?

Where does it end? Surely all active boeings need to be grounded and gone over with a fine tooth comb by a third party independent safety inspection?

Oh, I thought this was operator error like the Voyager issue where the pilot’s camera jammed the side stick. But oh no, botch job Boeing strike again.   Wow.

Ryan air saying they are finding random spanners and dirty rags under the floorboards..

This is the bit that, to me, is indicative of major problems. At proper organisations every tool has a matching shadow, and if not returned at the end of the shift the aircraft doesn’t return to flight until it’s found.

The seat thing isn’t that surprising – it was my first guess – and is just unfortunate. Disconnecting the autopilot in this way will always result in a violent pitch down.

The second switch on the back of the seat is probably there to allow the cabin crew to move the pilot away from the controls in the case of pilot incapacitation.

Not flown 787 but the rest of the seat looks very similar to the 777 I flew for 12 years . There is an electric power cutoff switch in easy reach if the seat power runs away. The seat moves back and forward on tracks with beating cars.  There are also manual levers to release the drive mechanism and roll the seat backwards.

I haven’t read a full report, but sounds to me like one of the crew leant on the seat back covered switch somehow and jammed it on!

I believe it was a fright attendant serving food to the pilots who leaned on the switch (which would normally not be a problem if the switch was correctly fitted.)

Seems a bit of a pointless switch. Our crew are trained to use the normal switches and manual overrides in the event of an incapacitated pilot. Thus one seems placed at exactly the place everyone leans when they come into the flight deck.

Boeing in the news again but not really it’s fault this time?

A cowling detaching from a planes engine after it not being secured…

after it not being secured…

…by ground crew.  🤷‍♂️

Boeing in the news again but not really it’s fault this time?

To be fair this isn’t a problem unique to Boeing. It got so bad on A320s that Airbus had to add a lock and a sensor to warn if the cowls weren’t latched completely.

edit, duplicate post

It got so bad on A320s that Airbus had to add a lock and a sensor to warn if the cowls weren’t latched completely.

Pop down the autoparts store and get a set of these?

The difference is that Airbus didn’t add the sensor as an optional extra – they just keep adding sensors and systems, possibly to their own and pilots continued confusion when they go wrong in ways they don’t expect them to go wrong…

From today’s hearing a whistleblower reports:

Why was Tarzan mentioned today?
One of the rather extraordinary claims made today by whistleblower Sam Salehpour, a quality engineer at Boeing, was that he said he saw workers jumping on plane pieces to force them into place.

Workers building the planes would struggle to bridge the joints in the planes’ mechanisms, he told the hearing, and would sometimes use blunt force.

“I literally saw people jumping on pieces of the airplane to get them to align,” he said.

“I call it the Tarzan effect.”

This is not the first time Salehpour has made this claim, and according to the Associated Press, Boeing officials have previously dismissed the allegation.

Boeing has said his claims are “inaccurate” and that it was confident its planes are safe.

“The issues raised have been subject to rigorous engineering examination under [Federal Aviation Administration] oversight,” the company said last week.

😑

More woes for Boeing.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68966894

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it would look into whether staff had falsified records.

Well, the good news is that if they only have to build 1 per week, they should have time to do quality control.

https://x.com/ABC/status/1800880113912844741

Basically, Boeing abandoned the outsourcing model and bringing manufacturing back in house.

Boeing nearing deal with supplier Spirit Aero after months of talks

Boeing is nearing a deal to buy back Spirit AeroSystems (SPR.N), opens new tab after its former subsidiary made substantial progress in separate talks with Airbus (AIR.PA), opens new tab over a transatlantic breakup of the struggling supplier, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
Boeing initiated talks earlier this year to buy back the Wichita, Kansas-based supplier it spun off in 2005, seeking to stabilize a key part of the supply chain for its strongest-selling jet following a mid-air blow out on a new 737 MAX in January. However, talks hit a stumbling block over Spirit’s work for Airbus, with the European group threatening to block any deal that involved Boeing building parts for its newest models.