Regulators won't let Boeing certify new
787 jets for flight
Associated Press,
by
Staff
Original Article
Posted By: Ribicon,
2/15/2022 4:59:28 PM
Washington—Federal safety regulators say they will retain power to approve Boeing 787 airliners for flight rather than return that authority to the aircraft maker, which hasn't been able to deliver any new Dreamliner planes since last May because of production flaws. The Federal Aviation Administration said it told Boeing of its decision Tuesday. The FAA said that once deliveries of 787s resume, it will perform final inspections and retain power to clear each new plane until it is confident that Boeing’s quality control and manufacturing “consistently produce 787s that meet FAA design standards.” It also said Boeing must have a plan for handling planes that need reworking.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
DVC 2/15/2022 5:06:07 PM (No. 1072937)
I'll bet this is more political theater than real.
Regardless of all the BS blown about the two 737 Max crashes, the root cause was actually incompetent 3rd world maintenance and incompetent 3rd world pilots. In each case, a competent pilot would have recognized a simple, easy to handle problem, "runaway trim". There is a button on the console that is specifically there to shut down the electric trim of an actuator or switch were to fail and cause the trim to continue to adjust the control "center position". A competent pilot shuts off the electric trim, and uses the simple, dead reliable backup/alternate manual trim wheel, right there on the console in easy reach.
Boeing was penalized and excoriated by media fools who know nothing about flying a plane. The 737 Max should have been back in service in a couple of months. The FAA has been screwing with Boeing, just for fun, and to exercise and increase their power. \
Old pilot's comment on the FAA's Motto: "We're not happy, 'til you're not happy." Funny, but so close to true that it hurts.
19 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
3XALADY 2/15/2022 5:52:05 PM (No. 1072987)
Thanks #1. I consider you a walking encyclopedia.
11 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
dman 2/15/2022 5:52:40 PM (No. 1072988)
Dunno. This may be the closest to a "non-story" all week.
No fan of Boeing, but it may just be "routine" caution and procedure, given recent experience.
What Freud said about cigars.
1 person likes this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Luandir 2/15/2022 6:22:25 PM (No. 1073012)
I'm sure 10% for the Big Guy will move things right along.
5 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Lawsy0 2/15/2022 7:20:46 PM (No. 1073034)
China certified the 787. Also Qatar?
1 person likes this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
DVC 2/15/2022 7:29:06 PM (No. 1073039)
Re #2. I talked to a SW pilot young friend ( who I helped out with his own aircraft when he was a teen and learning to fly) about these problems. He laughed, and said, "I'd fly a 737 Max tomorrow. This is basically just a runaway trim situation. Any competent pilot shouldn't have had any trouble." It helps a lot to have friends who really do know about something like an airliner. Aircraft are all very similar....but as they get bigger and more complex, the details are definitely different. Airline pilots go to about a 6 week class to learn the details of a new type of airliner.
I have flown a few aircraft with electric trim, but most of the smaller aircraft that I normally flew only had manual trim. But this is pretty simple in concept for a pilot to understand.
And the reason that the aircraft crashed was an angle of attack sensor had failed. And one crew recognized the issue, handled it safely, and flagged it for repair. The third world 'maintenance' guys for some reason didn't replace the sensor.....so it did the same thing on the next flight. The second crew failed to figure it out, let the runaway trim dive a perfectly good aircraft into the ground.
One of Boeing's fix is to make the optional dual angle of attack sensors MANDATORY, so both of sensors need to fail to cause this again. And the system software now has limits on how much trim it can apply automatically. The takeoff auto trim system was added as a "pilot aid" (for unskilled pilots?) so they did not have to manually trim on the climb out.
Frankly, trimming the aircraft into and out of a climb is NORMAL procedure on all the aircraft I ever flew. The auto system was just, IMO, to help lesser skilled pilots.
4 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
jhpeters2 2/15/2022 7:56:58 PM (No. 1073076)
Boeing moved production to SC. Payback time. Simple as that.
2 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Butch 2/16/2022 3:39:34 AM (No. 1073247)
Boeing moved its HQ to Chicago from Seattle, to make it appear a "world-class" company -- which it already was! One reason (I´m convinced) was that the State of Washington and its endless municipalities and agencies made it difficult for Boeing to get building permits in a timely manner, for instance. Then, there´s Washington´s 1% "Business and Occupations" tax, levied on gross revenue, if I remember correctly from living in the People´s Republic of Washington for 13 years. (I was never quite sure how moving HQ to Chicago helped solve either issue for Boeing, since so many production facilities remain in Washington state.) And Chicago of all places!
With that move, Boeing´s engineering executives were largely moved to Illinois, about 1200 miles from Seattle. That´s never a good idea, and hurt the company badly. Still, Washington state - and labor unions -- sucked Boeing for every dime they could, like leeches. They took Boeing for granted for decades, and Boeing executives had finally had enough.
What a mess.
1 person likes this.
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Boeing still can't get this plane into the air, but its steadfast commitment to Diversity (meaning specifically non-White people from overseas and willing to work cheap) in engineering and manufacturing, not to mention the mandatory vaccination of all employees, remains the envy of the world.