Boeing: Just When We Thought Things Were As Screwed Up As Possible

 

Another whistle blower has surfaced.

This one hasn't committed suicide yet, but the company is working on it.

He says that the company has been and continues to be so intent on "movin' em all down the line" that the functions involved in connecting the various pieces of the exotic carbon fiber material that forms the fuselage of the 787 Dreamliner are constantly being hurried up and short cut.

The problem with that, the whistle blower says, is that Boeing's mandated inattention to detail will impact the longevity expectations of the plane's body,

In every day you-and-me speak that translates to "disintegration in flight is a distinct possibility".

(Editorial comment: Even if Boeing could wave a magic wand and, as you read this, bring the assembly operation into acceptable parameters, there would nonetheless be a large inventory of plastic disaster currently aloft.) 

So, the 737 Max 8 has a nasty proclivity of wanting to go into a fatal stall attitude, a proclivity that requires a complicated software workaround and pilots sufficiently steeped in paranoia to be constantly on the lookout for the dreaded nose up condition, so they can frantically deploy the fix and avoid the plane spiraling down into the ground.

(Editorial comment: the fact that pilots are now able to be imbued with watchful paranoia so that they can deploy the software override to nose-down over-correct, rather than the plane "just doing it" is a real improvement: two early Max 8s "just did it" - the pilots had no idea that the plane had such a facility, and couldn't stop it from "just doing it" - and several hundred people died as the nose-down correction drove them at high speed into the ground; after those little kerfuffles Boeing decided to reveal its secret software feature and train pilots on its care and feeding.) 

But, back to the 787: it may break into pieces at altitude.

And you never know when missing nuts and bolts, loose engine covers, or over-used deicers may try to kill everybody.

I guess that's why Boeing is mounting a new ad campaign: "Your Money Back if You Don't Come Back".