Yeah....except that the union guys in Renton are putting out crap as well..soooooo.....there goes your argument. I've been on 6 different 787s built in S. Charleston. I k ow because I log each aircraft tail number with each flight. All aircraft were solid. The issue Boeing is dealing with is the FAA now over scrutinizing every aspect of Boeing's inspection processes resulting from the MAX debacle. Which they should've been doing all along. This has noting to do with union non-union labor.

(Written on 06/25/2021)(Permalink)

Funny, if the freighter was any other aircraft type the headline would have read: "Ethiopian freighter lands at wrong airport".

(Written on 04/09/2021)(Permalink)

737MAX has nearly 6,000 flight hours since re-entering service. EASA and CAA Wouldn't lift their respective grounding if they weren't absolutely sure the MAX was safe to fly.

(Written on 01/30/2021)(Permalink)

In the case with the MAX, investing billions wasn't really the issue as evidenced by the fact that they sunk nearly 25 billion fixing the problem. Boeing g could have spent this money developing a swank new plane for that dough. The issue was timing. They needed to get a new aircraft out the door sooner than later to catch up with and compete with Airbus's latest A320neo variant....which was much further ahead in development at the time. People will put Boeing's motivation to "profit over safety"; but the reality is they had nothing to answer to Airbus... and were caught flat-footed. The MAX was a rush to production answer to compete. That said it's a solid airframe. They really screwed the pooch with the flawed MCAS design. They made really, really, really bad decisons rushing this aircraft to market.

(Written on 01/09/2021)(Permalink)

The size and placement of the LEAP engines had absolutely nothing to do with either crash. The crashes had everything to do with MCAS design and faulty AOA sensors/vanes. MCAS was not designed to correct a poor aerodynamic design or aerodynamic "instability". It was designed to mimic the feel of the NG variants though every aspect of the performance envelop. Did engine size/power, and placement changed the MAX's handling characteristics compared to the NG variant? Yes. Did this mean the aircraft is/was "unstable"? No. Boeing failed horribly with the decision to implement MCAS. They would've been better off leaving the MAX as is, getting it certified with a new type rating, and absorbing the cost to train the pilots and document accordingly. This would have cost them a few billion dollars over the life of the program. Instead MCAS cost them $25-30 billion.

(Written on 12/07/2020)(Permalink)

John Macaulay, of course there's the matter of the 40-50 million passengers that flew on the MAX prior to the grounding who didn't regret flying it..present company included a dozen times or so. The thing is your argument can be made regardless of the mode of transportation. Travel carries risk. It could be our time next....or not. With the MAX, and the level of scrutiny it has undergone, I'm fairly confident that the risk to fly on this aircraft will be no greater than any other. The souls lost with the two crashes is extremely tragic. I think of them and their families often.

(Written on 12/05/2020)(Permalink)

And your evidence to this is........?

(Written on 10/16/2020)(Permalink)

The bigger point to make is that modern aircraft change air 3-4 times a minute...scrubbed through HEPA or ULPA filter banks. Their efficiency 99.98% at .03 mocron for HEPA and .02 for ULPA. So, aerosols containing COVID-19 are rapidly and frequently scrubbed from the cabin air. That's why cabin crews haven't been dropping like flies...and why you don't hear airftraft as superspreader "events".

(Written on 10/16/2020)(Permalink)

Smart flyers don't mindlessly listen to the rhetoric of people with an axe to grind either.

(Written on 08/14/2020)(Permalink)

I still use FSX, with serial port stick and rudder pedals. I purchased an adapter some time back. I've since added a 3ed party weather generator, and 3rd party A/C. The 32 bit architecture can make things a bit cumbersome on a 64 bit machine(memory access issues mostly), but it still works with a bit of massaging. However, I am excited about MS's first update in 14 years! It'll be nic to operate a FS with architecture built around modern hardware! Hell...If I have to go out and buy a new set of rudder pedals and stick...I'll do it.

(Written on 07/17/2020)(Permalink)