Don't Want To Work At Southwest Or Alaska If The Following Is True

[DeucesWild]

I would hate to be working somewhere with a single fleet type of Boeing 737 if the following 'Boeing Whistle Blower' story gains any traction.

The story is lengthy and disturbing.

http://www.airlinepilotupdate.com/video/

 

[ngsp]

produced by aljazerra tv. enough said.

 

[jonjuan]

Attention Herb: 6 Dozen Papa Johns Supremes to the FAA, stat!

 

[DeucesWild]

produced by aljazerra tv. enough said.

I agree, and almost didn't post for that very reason. But the documentary does quote fired Boeing employees and current FAA officials, and includes video and testimony of parts being produced by hand that were supposed to be produced by high precision CNC machines.

Does the fact that the parts were produced by hand make them unsafe? Probably not... that is how they were produced prior to CNC machines. But I don't know if the engineering for those structures was dependent on the higher tolerance and precise fit. Maybe, maybe not.

But if you pay an outside vendor for a precision high tolerance part, then that is what you should get.

I doubt the structure is compromised or is unsafe, I just would be worried about the public perception if this story does gain national coverage, which I hope it does not.

 

[DieselDragRacer]

Trace and cut parts by hand? Hell, if it's that easy I might just build my own 73.

 

[sstearns2]

The 737 was designed and built in the pre comuter era and most airplane parts are pretty low tolerance compared to a lot of things like the parts in a DVD player for instance. If a part meets the spec, it meets the spec. I don't know how many good machinsts are still around, but they're as a good as a CNC machine, just not as fast and can't work 24 hours a day. I sure Boeing still has some sh*t hot 'by hand' machinsts.

Cheers,
Scott

 

[DieselDragRacer]

The 737 was designed and built in the pre comuter era and most airplane parts are pretty low tolerance compared to a lot of things like the parts in a DVD player for instance. If a part meets the spec, it meets the spec. I don't know how many good machinsts are still around, but they're as a good as a CNC machine, just not as fast and can't work 24 hours a day. I sure Boeing still has some sh*t hot 'by hand' machinsts.

Cheers,
Scott

Boeing probably does. Too bad the parts in question were made by a 3rd party supplier.

 

[DieselDragRacer]

When you consider .Gov let Wall St and the banks police themselves and do whatever they wanted, it isn't too hard to believe a company as big and powerful as Boeing would be corrupt too. Lets just hope we don't find out the hard way.

 

[roughneck]

The vendors were approved by the FAA. If Boeing did their part and signed contracts with vendors approved by the FAA the 3rd party and the FAA will be on the hook. If they ground the fleet, SWA will just bill Obama for his mistakes until the situation is resolved.

The most successful airline in the history of aviation, SWA, not to mention the airline that carriers the most domestic passengers isn't going to be shut down because of a government screw up. If there is any truth to the report, there will be some witness protection program activity and the whole issue will go away.

 

[DieselDragRacer]

The 2 whistle blowers who worked at Boeing lost their jobs because the Justice Dept leaked their names.

The the FAA's Chief Scientific Advisor signed a statement giving Boeing a clean bill of health, yet under sworn deposition admitted the statement was written by Boeing's own attorney (44 min in).

It's a bit odd 3-8 year old NG's overran runways in 2009 and all 3 broke into 3 pieces in the same places where said chop shop made parts.

 

[djsk]

Didn't make it through the video, but I love all the shots of emb-170's, hehe

 

[ackattacker]

That's a really well done documentary al-jazeera or not. And pretty damning, mostly about the cozy FAA / industry relationship for the past decade... which is just fact. Boeing's own documents basically hang them... they knew, they didn't care.

It doesn't really make me nervous to step on a 737 NG though. But someone should be held accountable for the lax practices allowed to occur at suppliers and maybe step up inspections on those parts. Sweeping it under the rug is not an acceptable response.

 

[Wesb737fo]

The 2 whistle blowers who worked at Boeing lost their jobs because the Justice Dept leaked their names.

The the FAA's Chief Scientific Advisor signed a statement giving Boeing a clean bill of health, yet under sworn deposition admitted the statement was written by Boeing's own attorney (44 min in).

It's a bit odd 3-8 year old NG's overran runways in 2009 and all 3 broke into 3 pieces in the same places where said chop shop made parts.

Come on, really, a 737 breaking up after an over run...wow. Which over runs are you referring to? I would be shocked if the NTSB came back and confirmed your theory. Since a 737 takes off and lands every minute why would those three over runs constitute a conspiracy?

A plane that breaks up after a hard landing or severe turbulence would be one thing, but after running off of the paved surface is another. Applying newtonian physics to the energy involved in such an accident, one would find that even an aircraft fashioned from recycled battleship steel and german tiger tanks probably wouldn't survive departing the paved surface with sufficient speed. Not trying to be too harsh....sorry.

Although, it is a good point to bring up, you don't want your overseers getting too cozy with your manufacturers.

 

[waveflyer]

Yeah looking at the American Jamaica accident- I'm impressed that it broke in a way that noone died-

You're really not going to convince me that boronia are more dangerous than embraers or airbi--

Now mcdonnel/Douglas ships are unbreakable...

 

[kngarthur]

When you consider .Gov let Wall St and the banks police themselves and do whatever they wanted, it isn't too hard to believe a company as big and powerful as Boeing would be corrupt too. Lets just hope we don't find out the hard way.

The whole collapse is the govs fault not wall street! The gov made banks give loans to people who couldnt afford it. All under the guise of " affordable" housing.

 

[DieselDragRacer]

Come on, really, a 737 breaking up after an over run...wow. Which over runs are you referring to? I would be shocked if the NTSB came back and confirmed your theory. Since a 737 takes off and lands every minute why would those three over runs constitute a conspiracy?

A plane that breaks up after a hard landing or severe turbulence would be one thing, but after running off of the paved surface is another. Applying newtonian physics to the energy involved in such an accident, one would find that even an aircraft fashioned from recycled battleship steel and german tiger tanks probably wouldn't survive departing the paved surface with sufficient speed. Not trying to be too harsh....sorry.

Although, it is a good point to bring up, you don't want your overseers getting too cozy with your manufacturers.

The conspiracy they were getting at was all 3 planes that broke into 3 pieces last year were 8 years old NG's and these planes were are built around the time Boeing had known problems with this supplier.

All 3 planes broke in critical areas where said supplier made parts by hand that were certified only to be made by CNC. When the parts arrived at Boeing notes of irregularities were initially made (until mgnt told the workers not to). Instead of rejecting critical structural fuselage parts missing corrosion coating, parts with mis-drilled holes and parts that were out of shape, Boeing employees drilled additional holes in the fuselage section, used aersol paint to mimic corrosion coating and beat the fuselage sections into place when they didn't fit.

 

[DieselDragRacer]

The whole collapse is the govs fault not wall street! The gov made banks give loans to people who couldnt afford it. All under the guise of " affordable" housing.

I'm not saying it wasn't. My point was .Gov wasn't watching Wall St or the investment banks like they probably should have. In this video it's said that the FAA doesn't keep an on eye Boeing because it trusts Boeing to police itself.

 

[Ty Webb]

Well, in the first 5 minutes, I've already "learned" that the NG was a "radical new design" that was able to fly higher and faster because of precision tooling . . . :erm:

Silly me, I thought max altitude was a function of wing design, thrust and pressurization, when it was precision tooling, all along.

:laugh:

 

[Wesb737fo]

Interesting, however, my question is if the pilots make a mistake and the aircraft departs the pavement at a high speed over rough terrain, will the aircraft break apart anyway. Airplanes are designed and built to fly, not crash. Let's just say that after 7000 flight hours in the 737ng and no problems after all the turbulence, rough landings (yes...some were mine) etc, etc. I have no worries about the aircraft. I will buy you a steak dinner if anything comes from the NTSB that determines this issue alone caused the break ups of aircraft involved in crashes. You can hold me to it.

 

[RedBelly]

http://www.stopaljazeera.org/