In the wake of yet another cost-cutting Boeing fiasco, one must wonder what the top priority is at Boeing.
Boeing 737 MAX 9s Grounded
The Seattle Times reports Boeing 737 MAX 9s Grounded After Alaska Airlines In-Flight Blowout.
Following the serious incident Friday when a part of a Boeing 737 MAX 9 fuselage blew out at 16,000 feet on an Alaska Airlines flight out of Portland, the authorities on Saturday ordered the grounding of all similar aircraft operated by U.S. airlines.
Depressurization followed after a section of fuselage meant to plug a gap where an emergency exit could be installed fell away from the aircraft in the air, leaving a gaping hole in the plane’s main cabin.
This was an almost new MAX 9. Boeing delivered the jet to Alaska less than 10 weeks earlier, on Oct. 31.
On Saturday, Alaska Airlines said that in the days before Friday’s in-flight incident pilots had filed several reports of intermittent warning lights that indicated some loss of cabin pressure on the jet.
Jason Lai, Alaska’s managing director of engineering, said these pressurization warnings were written up and “resolved per approved maintenance procedures.” As a result of those write-ups, the plane was then restricted from long-distance flying out over water, he said, but otherwise allowed to fly.
A door cutout, though there is no door
The rectangular hole, almost 2 feet wide and 4 feet high, that appeared in the fuselage was located at the position where Boeing fits a plug to seal a door opening that is not used as a door by most airlines and by no U.S. carriers.
Only jets going to low-cost carriers like Ryanair have an emergency door installed in that location. Because such airlines cram in additional seats, regulations require an extra emergency exit.
But for production efficiency, this door hole is cut out on all the MAX 9s. For most airlines it is then sealed with a plug.
It appears that’s the moment when the plug blew out and passengers saw a gaping hole, felt a rush of air leaving the cabin, and saw the oxygen masks drop from the ceiling as the passenger cabin depressurized.
Alaska said Saturday that there was no one seated in the window seat by the hole, nor in the middle seat. A male passenger was in the aisle seat and across the aisle from him were a young adult and a teenager.
Photos taken by passengers show that the leather padding around the window seat by the hole was gone, sucked out with the air.
Passenger Nicholas Hoch, a 33-year-old architect, told Bloomberg News the decompression sucked the shirt off a teenage boy in the row ahead of the fuselage hole, leaving him with some abrasions.
In an interview Saturday, independent airline industry consultant Bob Mann said, “that makes me wonder if it was ever properly fastened.” Mann said the lack of any deformation around the hole in the fuselage makes it look like the initial cause may be “a Spirit quality control issue.”
MAX fuselages supplied by Spirit last year featured a stream of various defects, including improperly drilled holes in the aft pressure bulkhead and fittings that attach the vertical fin to the fuselage that didn’t conform to the specification. However Boeing has ultimate responsibility for the aircraft. The plug should have been inspected in Renton before the sidewall was installed to cover it.
Lai, Alaska’s managing director of engineering, said via email that “these types of aircraft pressurization system write ups are typical in large aircraft commercial aviation operations. In every case, the write up was fully evaluated and resolved per approved maintenance procedures and in full compliance with all applicable FAA regulations,” he added.
“Safety is our top priority,” Boeing said in a statement Saturday. “We deeply regret the impact this event has had on our customers and their passengers.”
Major Design Flaws
On March 17, 2019, I commented Boeing 737 Max Major Design Flaws, Not a Software Failure
Short Synopsis
- Boeing 737 Max aircraft have aerodynamic and engineering design flaws
- The sensors that can detect potential problems were not reliable. There are two sensors but the Boeing design only used one of them.
- Boeing cut corners to save money
- To save even more money, Boeing allowed customers to order the planes without warning lights. The planes that crashed didn’t have those warning lights.
- There were pilot training and maintenance log issues.
- Finally, the regulators got into bed with companies they were supposed to regulate
Airline Pilots Respond
Also, please consider my April 25, 2019 post Airline Pilots Respond to “Boeing 737 Max Unsafe to Fly”: It’s Not Just Boeing
Hello Mish,
I was the Captain of QF72 in October, 2008. The Air Data and Flight Control Computers teamed up to generate automation confusion and then maneuvered my Airbus A330 in similar fashion to the MAX accidents. 119 passengers and crew were injured and a Mayday declared for emergency divert to Learmonth airfield in Western Australia.
This article you have posted is the best so far on the MAX accidents.
I have written a book about my accident flight entitled, “No Man’s Land: The Untold Story of Automation and QF72“. It will be released next month through Harper Collins publishers, and I see Amazon will have it too.
I lay it on the line, with a few stories from my US Navy days and the training I received there that helped me save the day. I am lucky to be a survivor of this colossal failure of technology.
There is more to come from all of this.
Cheers,
Kevin Sullivan
Several other pilots and airline experts responded to my article. Click on the above link to see.
Safety Clearly Not the Top Priority
If safety was the top priority, the Boeing Max would not exist at all.
Between pilots with mental problems NOT showing up to be tested & Boeing’s “engineering”, who wants to fly any more? Not me! I’ll drive or stay home, thanks ….
There might be a pattern forming here.
1. MCAS
2. EICAS
3. Door Plugs
How much did Nikki Hailey earn as a director of Boeing? Certainly appointed to provide her unique perspective on Aerospace engineering and manufacturing efficiencies.
US is a cesspool. We either return to meritocracy and honest government, public and corporate, or are doomed to the fate of Rome and other failed empires.
Remember, even though this is a “Boeing” the company and management of McDonnell Douglass took over during the merger. There is NOTHING Boeing about the fit and finish of this trash heap. They moved HQ, cut corners, farmed out parts to third parties. The 737 Max is 100% not airworthy. It cannot fly correctly without massive computerized trim manipulation because the engines are not placed on the wing correctly. A total design by committee and cheap airlines who don’t want to train up pilots on a newer better place. Go Airbus
It doesn’t matter what is “top priority” at Boeing.
Like all Western companies more than 5 decades into completely unconstrained debasement transfers to the dumbest of the dumb, Boeing is owned and ran solely by clinical idiots now. No matter what their “priority” may be, they are simply too stupid and incompetent to accomplish any of it regardless. Building doors which fall off, is simply the best that the made-money-off-my-home crowd will ever be able to do.
They wallpaper their website all they want with the ESG – DIE crap, but they sill have this and plenty of others going on for real pollution (not CO2 bs) –
Press Release: California holds Boeing accountable for cleanup at toxic Santa Susana Field Laboratory | CalEPA
Using the door plug for every airframe allows the seating to be reconfigured by the airline in the future or by a subsequent purchaser of the plane without modifying the airframe, which would be prohibitively expensive. It is not necessarily a cost savings especially if only a few percent of the airlines use it.
There is a lot of pro-union sentiment in the comments which I find ironic since Mish is quite anti-union. Unfortunately when either side gets too much advantage, they press the advantage and go to far. It can happen with either unions or management of business.
My father-in-law ran a Door Co. and my Brother-in-Law joined his small company (and I was invited in as well, but declined) said:
“OH, the guy runs the entire operation on bailing wire and duct tape.”
It made me LOL.
His company failed miserably and I had to bail him out, my FATHER-in-LAW, from bankruptcy. I took MY hard earned money to keep his house for him. He is STILL a loser to this very day and we battle constantly. I have given up on him.
It is because of that type of mentality, after coming to know him over my 45 years of marriage to his daughter, that I am CONVINCED that he cannot operate any other way.
It is INTRINSIC to his thought patterns, behaviors and outcomes.
My Father-in-LAW= BOEING.
They CANNOT Change without cleaning out the Main office, the CEO and his underlings and they should be replaced with CAPABLE commanders, such as your Man above, Mish.
“dog bites man, conservatives blame DEI and/or illegals”
I work at Boeing, I can verify that DEI (allied with HR) is part of the coercive mechanisms in the workplace. Companies use it, as much as they use union-busting. The fact that you can’t see that tells me that you’ve never worked on a shop floor, and have no idea of the kind of trickery that “employers” use to divide, intimidate, and regiment workers.
Years ago I used to think that Boeing and Disney were the greatest companies in the world, which they were-Mish I’m sorta inspired here not making much sense- only on the weekends-oh my gosh so the decline of these 2 wonderfully great companies-demonstrates the way that our American culture has rejected traditional values for evil, woke ideologies and embraced decadent diversity, equity and inclusion cultural concept assholes truthfully? They are far left way more than just plain anti-God, anti family, anti American ideas they support Satan himself in my opinion all you people who think I’m crazy or whatever! Please check out CS Lewis on the chapter on Hell in the Problem of Pain!
wait, wait!
Afghanistan just finished.
still busy sorting out Ukraine and Gaza.
The problem will be looked at after that.
Apparently, the female director of the next Star Wars movie wants to make the traditional male Star Wars fans feel uncomfortable while watching it. Not a problem for me, as i won’t be going to see it. I live a few miles up the street from the Disney Studio and was on the lot once for the final wrap party of Home Improvement.
“Photos taken by passengers show that the leather padding around the window seat by the hole was gone, sucked out with the air.”
Commander Data on Star Trek: TNG would disagree. In an episode in which Riker was talking about a loss of pressure causing a crew member to be sucked out into space, Data said, “Correction, blown out.”
“Safety is our top priority”
Sloganeering works, at least until the truth comes out.
It is not just Boeing’s civilian planes, all of the military junk the private ‘arms’ industry is substandard. Ukraine is the proof.
Yes, they do not MEAN it. Think of that Statement as an example of ADVERTISING, because they have hired a team, or have a team, dedicated to MESSAGE CONTROL.
I worked in a huge Co. and I will not name them and I could SEE the manipulations back then: 1981! They LIED about product being shipped, and that product went into BIG RIG TRAILERS and then my team was responsible to FIRE SALE that unsold Inventory the quarter after.
Ultimately, that company went under and I had already moved on. The next company was a LOSING Battle ship as well, and that CEO was one of the Silicon Valley’s first Billionaires…. and those two companies in a ROW taught me the value of TRUTH and HONESTY and FOLLOW-THROUGH.
Both companies failed due to SHIT leadership.
RE Advertising
MadMen – Season 1 – Episode 1
Don Draper – “Its toasted.”
Boeing has a DEI problem in management and engineering. Merrit should rule promotions, not DEI.
Boeing’s priority is the stock price, and the derivatives thereof, mainly compensation handed out in options and grants of stock.
I retired from there 3 years ago. Production is constant chaos no matter how orderly it looks to the outsider. Boeing has purged most of experienced employees by hook or by crook, opting for the trained monkey approach. Only without the training part.
Schedule is king, looking good is second. Feigning compliance is third. Destroying it’s labor unions is next. Safety and quality are somewhere down the list.
The recorded communications between the pilot and air traffic controllers was quite illuminating. Not to worry!
Companies have to make those quarterly earnings, regardless of the consequences, in order for managements to receive their stock options.
BAM! Right on.
Let’s just add this incident to reasons I won’t fly. My last flight was 20 years ago; just as TSA was ramping up, and warnings of mass retirements of baby boomers (industry experts) started making headlines.
Boomers are a smart, hard-working Generation, and yet no where NEAR as tough as the One that preceded them and so on and so forth as we drill down to assessing Generational declines.
Airplanes are put together from parts manufactured by hundreds of suppliers on different continents in part by lowering costs, but also for national and corporate politics.
Japan Inc. buys Boeing because Mitsubishi builds the wings of Boeing aircraft. Well, the one involved in the recent accident was an Airbus.
Airbus opened operations in the US to sell to US customers, and the same in China.
It doesn’t make business sense, and hardly improves safety.
Boeing’s reverse merger with McDonnel-Douglas killed that company.
The attached is a comment for Boeing employee that worked in quality assurance. The comment came off of youtube channel blancolirio by Juan Brown. Brown is a B777 pilot and covers many aircraft accidents on his channel. He states actual facts and does not speculate into reasons for aircraft accidents.
@jimpalmer196919 hours ago
I did 43 years at Boeing in Commercial Airplanes with 31 years in QA. As Juan says this is a plug type door. These types of doors have been used on all Boeing transports back to the 707 and are very reliable. They should not be confused with the cargo doors such as the 747 door involved in the United Airlines flight 811 accident. Those pegs sticking out of the door frame are door stops. There is a matching set of stops on the door. The set of stops on the door are inside of the door frame. The pressurization of the airplane pushes the door against the stops in the door frame. The way the door opens there is a gate at the bottom of the door that folds in allowing the door to move down so the door stops will clear each other and move outward. Part of the mechanism includes pins protruding from the door frame and cam locks on the door side. This cam/pin arraignment is the locking system. Inside the door there is an arrangement of gear boxes, linkages and torque tubes that move the end gate, cam locks and the door moving down. When the door is properly rigged the door stops are adjusted to ensure proper contact and the push rods are adjusted to ensure the linkage goes over center to prevent unwanted movement and subsequent opening of the door. Proper rigging is also dependent upon having the weight of the door slide compensated for. A deactivated door does not have the escape slide. If the door was rigged with the slide weight and then deactivated, then the rigging could possibly be incorrect. Either the door was mis rigged or a safety device was left off the door assembly allowing the rigging to change. These doors are installed and rigged by Spirit Aviation (formerly Boeing of Wichita).
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“Formerly Boeing of Wichita”. Boeing got rid of the unions in Wichita, then farmed out the work non-union to Spirit. The people at Spirit have been doing rework on the forward pressure barrier on the 787 in Everett, WA. They were working 12-hour days on weekdays, and mandatory 10s on weekends, until they recently contractually forced the company to change all weekend OT to completely voluntary.
Mish, for years you have written about the dangers of flying in the later models of the 737 and once again you have been proven correct. Boeing took a very reliable airplane and modified it into a flying disaster.
An emergency door has hinges and a lock. The door was not locked. It opened in midair. The weight of the door and the air turbulence ripped the hinges like in a hurricane. The crew might have kept the door open.
Michael, it was not a door, it was a plug installed in a optional exit door opening.
Mish wrote “If safety was the top priority, the Boeing Max would not exist at all.”
— That is what Ralph Nader said, too, in 2019.
At the extreme, if safety were the top top top priority, then the Green New Deal would prohibit all air travel, or travel period. Stay home!
In the meantime, how many plugs in 737 Max 9-s have flown for how many hours before this occurred? For this one, were all those earlier warning reports really resolved?, or did they miss something related to this plug? A thorough investigation is called for. Boeing needs an event like this, in service, like they need a hole in the head.
D I E and profit. Just like a lot of woke companies, they are choosing to put woke ahead of everything else.
“Woke” has little to do with it, farming out production “globally” and especially to non-union workplaces, the loss of experienced/knowledgeable workers to retirement, poor training and integration of new workers into procedures/skillsets, and the rolling demoralization in the plants due to management F*** ups are the real roots of the problems. Boeing puts way more money into share buybacks and stock price pumping than it puts into safety and training.
PROFIT…