Don't fly on a 737-MAX

Tannin

NelsonP

Or a 747....
https://news.sky.com/story/footage-shows-moment-flames-shoot-out-of-boeing-747-13051697

m_c

NelsonP said:

Or a 747....
https://news.sky.com/story/footage-shows-moment-flames-shoot-out-of-boeing-747-13051697

Engines going boom aren't unique to Boeing, although they do seem to be having a rough time with their aircraft making headlines lately.

ICBM

NelsonP said:

Or a 747....
https://news.sky.com/story/footage-shows-moment-flames-shoot-out-of-boeing-747-13051697

That looks scary - especially when it's at night - but is actually not that bad. It apparently was an uncontained engine failure, which is still quite serious, but it doesn't have major safety implications for the design or build quality of the airframe like the 737MAX incidents and accidents have.

747s are safe. It probably wouldn't even have made the news at the moment if it wasn't a Boeing aircraft.

Tannin

^ The interesting thing - from a psychology-of-journalists point of view - is that all the reports trumpeted "Boeing" in the headline (which is not really relevant to the fault) and not even in the body text did anyone actually mention the one name which IS relevant - that of the engine manufacturer. 

stickyfiddle

Yeah well worth noting that Boeing and airbus don’t make engines. And unless this one was very new it’s likely a maintenance issue or a manufacturing defect. But only one engine out of 4 going down is generally no real issue safety wise.

m_c

"Unplanned" removal, installation inspection procedure at Boeing - Leeham News and Analysis

Insider saying that the door plug had to be opened during production to replace a damaged door seal, but the official build records show the door was never opened, so no further check was created to ensure the work had been completed correctly.

stickyfiddle

And today a wheel fell off. Granted this was a 757 so *definitely* a maintenance issue rather than manufacturing, but hilariously bad timing for Boeing... 

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/24/delta-air-lines-plane-nose-wheel-falls-off

DuploLicks

There are a many videos on the Alaska flight incident but I quite like the thorough walk-through that Mentour Pilot does on in this video.

Tannin

Mentour Pilot is always good value.

ICBM

stickyfiddle said:

And today a wheel fell off. Granted this was a 757 so *definitely* a maintenance issue rather than manufacturing, but hilariously bad timing for Boeing...

Sounds like someone forgot to tighten the wheel nuts.

Ironic considering the 757 is the aircraft Boeing *really* need to reintroduce instead of the Max. (If they don’t have time for a brand new design.)

Tannin

Lovely aircraft, the 757, but very poor economics by modern standards. Just giving it new engines wouldn't cut the mustard, Boeing would have had to start from scratch with an all-new model but they didn't want to spend the money.  (Haven't we heard this song before?) So they ended up dong a cheapskate, corner-cutting revamp of the 73 and it might just have cost them the company. Airlines are still ordering 737s but the two main sales drivers are big price discounts and long, long waits for A320/321 deliveries because Airbus have sold out their entire production for many years ahead.

The new 777, when it finally, finally arrives, absolutely must succeed or Boeing is rooted. They won't go out of business because the US government will hand them free lunches (especially via military contracts) but  they may end up a mere shadow of the mighty company that was.

Kittyfrisk

Sad news  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68534703

Haych

Kittyfrisk said:

Sad news  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68534703

Wowsers!  I've read too many David Baldacci and John Grisham novels and my mind is doing somersaults!

Litterick

A 787 Dreamliner flying from Sydney to Auckland suddenly lost altitude, sending passengers into the ceiling. The pilot later told one passenger,  'I lost my instrumentation briefly and then it just came back all of a sudden'.

 Always keep your seatbelt buckled.

Emp_Fab

I love how the press seem to wilfully report minor events in aviation with the most hyperbole.  They manage to get most technical aspects of other stories correct but when it comes to planes, they appear to lose the ability to Google or to ask actual pilots for their opinions.

Publishing "AIRLINER PLUMMETS FROM SKY!!  PASSENGERS FEAR FOR THEIR LIVES!!  PILOT SAYS "I DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED!!" gets more clicks than "Airliner hits air pocket, several passengers get minor injuries".

stickyfiddle

Yeah, a drop due to turbulence isn't particularly rare and certainly not Boeing-specific. Though the instruments all blacking out for a second might be a concern, obviously. 

Main point there is a big +1 to keeping your seatbelt on!! 

Tannin

^ But in this case it wasn't an air pocket. And the injuries were not "minor". People were thrown so hard that they broke the roof panels! 50 people required medical treatment, 13 were taken to hospital, one is very seriously injured. 

Authorities in Chile and New Zealand are investigating and will no doubt report the result. But it seems perfectly clear that it wasn't turbulence (a so-called "air pocket") but rather a fault with the control system.

------------------------------------------
Edit: But of course your general point is a fair one, even though in this instance it happens to be incorrect. And once a particular focus  is brought to their attention (an aircraft type, a make, a technical feature like fly-by-wire or sidesticks, or most of all an airline) they hammer relentlessly at it, reporting any minor semi-routine incident at Panic Factor 9. Much of the time these mainstream press reports are written by general-duties journalists who haven't got a bloody clue about aviation. Just last month I noticed a breathless report in some major newspaper or other talking about "wing flaps". Oh, FFS - if you don't even know what flaps are, you should be ringing up head office to get somebody better educated out to write the story.

RaymondLin

When was the last time you hit turbulence and 50 people ended up in hospital?  

Minor event lol, buying a car is a minor event, not a 5 year+ ordeal.  50 people in hospital from a flight with instruments going blank isn't an air pocket.

Axe_meister

Just think how often we get a dodgy connection on a simple Pedalboard that might get used a dozen times a week in a home environment, now scale that up to 1000s of connections on a plane that is in use 24x7 going through constant G-forces, with massive temperature variances.
It's surprising they even fly at all.
I did Aero Eng at uni, and it still fills me with wonder how they fly.