Thread: Airline News

It's common knowedge that the FAA has been incapable of operating independently for many years.

The NTSB isn't much better. They commissioned a report on how to improve it after TWA800 and it has just been ignored.

Another old plane that's been modified.

I hope they haven't fucked that up too.

#IFITSBOEINGIMNOTGOING

This HIA Loadmaster might be looking for a new job (unless he's Qatari of course, in which case someone will explain to him why you take the rear cargo off first and put him back to work).

Boeing will definately be seeing lawsuits

Pilot Who Hitched a Ride Saved Lion Air 737 Day Before Deadly Crash

As the Lion Air crew fought to control their diving Boeing Co. 737 Max 8, they got help from an unexpected source: an off-duty pilot who happened to be riding in the cockpit.

That extra pilot, who was seated in the cockpit jumpseat, correctly diagnosed the problem and told the crew how to disable a malfunctioning flight-control system and save the plane, according to two people familiar with Indonesia’s investigation.

The next day, under command of a different crew facing what investigators said was an identical malfunction, the jetliner crashed into the Java Sea killing all 189 aboard.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-later-crashed

Some really good prices for Condor business class out of London via Frankfurt-anyone flown them? Sounds like a bargain at 650 quid one way

Originally Posted by Mandaloopy

Some really good prices for Condor business class out of London via Frankfurt-anyone flown them? Sounds like a bargain at 650 quid one way

Tripadvisor is your friend....

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUser...dor-World.html

selling safety features as add ons.....maybe not such a good idea..



Doomed Boeing Jets Lacked 2 Safety Features That Company Sold Only as Extras


http://Doomed Boeing Jets Lacked 2 S...Only as Extras

^ https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/21/b...es-charge.html

Originally Posted by uncle junior

selling safety features as add ons.....maybe not such a good idea..



Doomed Boeing Jets Lacked 2 Safety Features That Company Sold Only as Extras


http://Doomed Boeing Jets Lacked 2 S...Only as Extras

The mind boggles, it really does.

346 people dead because Boeing considered flight safety a "chargeable add-on".

C U N T S.

the MBa reckoning is coming

Both Boeing and its airline customers have taken pains to keep these options, and prices, out of the public eye. Airlines frequently redact details of the features they opt to pay for — or exclude — from their filings with financial regulators. Boeing declined to disclose the full menu of safety features it offers as options on the 737 Max, or how much they cost.

But one unredacted filing from 2003 for a previous version of the 737 shows that Gol Airlines, a Brazilian carrier, paid $6,700 extra for oxygen masks for its crew,

Originally Posted by uncle junior

Doomed Boeing Jets Lacked 2 Safety Features That Company Sold Only as Extras

Boeing to mandate 737 MAX safety feature missing on Lion Air and Ethiopian jets

Boeing plans to make standard a safety feature that might have warned of problems that possibly played a role in Ethiopian and Indonesian plane crashes that killed almost 350 people, two officials briefed on the matter say.

Key points:

• Boeing previously charged for a cockpit warning light altering sensor malfunctions
• It says it is now rolling out the safety light across the entire fleet, and older models
• Europe and Canada will refuse safety investigations from US authorities

Boeing will mandate a previously optional cockpit warning light as part of a software update to the 737 MAX fleet that was grounded in the wake of the fatal crashes, said the officials, who asked not to be identified.

---

To little, to late!

Originally Posted by David48atTD

To little, to late!

...indeed: simply too, too...

...I await resignations from Boeing and the FAA...

Originally Posted by tomcat

...I await resignations from Boeing

golden parachutes - though being seppo , maybe shareholders will sue

Indonesian airline Garuda cancels order for 49 Boeing 737 Max 8 jets

Indonesia’s national carrier Garuda has cancelled a multibillion-dollar order for 49 Boeing 737 Max 8 jets after two fatal crashes involving the plane, the company said, blaming passengers’ loss of trust in the aircraft.

https://www.theguardian.com/business...737-max-8-jets

Originally Posted by David48atTD

Boeing to mandate 737 MAX safety feature missing on Lion Air and Ethiopian jets

Boeing plans to make standard a safety feature that might have warned of problems that possibly played a role in Ethiopian and Indonesian plane crashes that killed almost 350 people, two officials briefed on the matter say.

Key points:

• Boeing previously charged for a cockpit warning light altering sensor malfunctions
• It says it is now rolling out the safety light across the entire fleet, and older models
• Europe and Canada will refuse safety investigations from US authorities

Boeing will mandate a previously optional cockpit warning light as part of a software update to the 737 MAX fleet that was grounded in the wake of the fatal crashes, said the officials, who asked not to be identified.

---

To little, to late!

There is a very important message in there that is somewhat obscured:

Regulators in Europe and Canada said they would conduct their own reviews of any new systems, snubbing the de facto global aviation safety authority, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Finally the rest of the world realises that the FAA has been purchased by the airlines and Boeing.

Good!

Originally Posted by baldrick

https://www.theguardian.com/business...737-max-8-jets

If Lion Air follow, that's another 187....


Although...

National carrier Garuda Indonesia has sent a letter to Boeing Co asking to cancel an order for 49 737 MAX 8 narrowbody jets, Garuda Chief Financial Officer Fuad Rizal said on Friday.

The airline could switch the order, valued at $6 billion at list prices, to other Boeing models, Rizal told Reuters. He said negotiations with Boeing were ongoing and Airbus SE jets were not under consideration.

https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2019...indonesia.html

Grab a coffee....

Boeing Was ‘Go, Go, Go’ to Beat Airbus With the 737 Max


Ruth Fremson/The New York Times


Boeing faced an unthinkable defection in the spring of 2011. American Airlines, an exclusive Boeing customer for more than a decade, was ready to place an order for hundreds of new, fuel-efficient jets from the world’s other major aircraft manufacturer, Airbus.


The chief executive of American called Boeing’s leader, W. James McNerney Jr., to say a deal was close. If Boeing wanted the business, it would need to move aggressively, the airline executive, Gerard Arpey, told Mr. McNerney.


To win over American, Boeing ditched the idea of developing a new passenger plane, which would take a decade. Instead, it decided to update its workhorse 737, promising the plane would be done in six years.


The 737 Max was born roughly three months later.


The competitive pressure to build the jet — which permeated the entire design and development — now threatens the reputation and profits of Boeing, after two deadly crashes of the 737 Max in less than five months. Prosecutors and regulators are investigating whether the effort to design, produce and certify the Max was rushed, leading Boeing to miss crucial safety risks and to underplay the need for pilot training.


While investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the crash in Ethiopia this month and one in Indonesia in October, they are focused on a newly installed piece of software designed to avoid stalls. The software was meant to compensate for bigger, more fuel-efficient engines and ensure the plane flew the same way as an earlier version.


Months behind Airbus, Boeing had to play catch-up. The pace of the work on the 737 Max was frenetic, according to current and former employees who spoke with The New York Times. Some spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.


Engineers were pushed to submit technical drawings and designs at roughly double the normal pace, former employees said. Facing tight deadlines and strict budgets, managers quickly pulled workers from other departments when someone left the Max project. Although the project had been hectic, current and former employees said they had finished it feeling confident in the safety of the plane.


The specter of Boeing’s chief rival was constant. Airbus had been delivering more jets than Boeing for several years. And losing the American account would have been gutting, costing the manufacturer billions in lost sales and potentially thousands of jobs.


“They weren’t going to stand by and let Airbus steal market share,” said Mike Renzelmann, an engineer who retired in 2016 from Boeing’s flight control team on the 737 Max.


Boeing didn’t seem bothered at first by the A320neo, the fuel-efficient plane that Airbus announced in 2010.


At a meeting in January of the next year, James F. Albaugh, the chief executive of Boeing’s commercial airplanes division, told employees that Airbus would probably go over budget creating a plane that carriers didn’t really want, according to a recording of the meeting reviewed by The Times.


Mr. Albaugh boasted that carriers were already paying more for Boeing’s single-aisle jet than the Airbus version. He didn’t see the need to strike now — Boeing could wait until the end of the decade to produce a new plane from scratch, the executive said.


“I don’t think we need to get too spun up over the fact that they’re making some sales,” he said.


For decades, Airbus was barely on Boeing’s radar. A consortium started in 1970 by several European countries, it was slow to compete globally. Boeing, founded in 1916, dominated the passenger-jet market with its 737 midsize jet and the 747 jumbo jet.


Then came John Leahy, an American who rose through the ranks to become the chief Airbus salesman in 1994. Mr. Leahy was relentless. Once, the chief executive of an airline got sick just as a deal was about to close. Mr. Leahy traveled to the man’s house, and the executive signed the papers while wearing his bathrobe.


John Leahy in 2013, when he was chief operating officer of Airbus. “Boeing thought we were a flash in the pan,” he said in an interview.CreditGuillaume Horcajuelo/EPA, via Shutterstock


Mr. Leahy scored a major coup in 1999 when JetBlue decided to launch with a fleet composed entirely of Airbus A320s. In the years that followed, more low-cost carriers around the world, like easyJet, placed big orders, too.


Airbus had pulled ahead of Boeing by 2005. “Boeing has struggled with the development work needed to take the company into the 21st century,” Tim Clark, president of Emirates, the Dubai airline, said that year. Airbus, he said, “has been braver, more brazen.”


In 2008, Airbus delivered 483 airplanes, while Boeing delivered just 375. Three years later at the Paris Air Show, Airbus took orders for 730 aircraft, worth some $72.2 billion, with its new fuel-efficient version dominating.


“Boeing was just completely arrogant in dismissing the viability of the A320,” said Scott Hamilton, managing director of the Leeham Company, an aviation consulting firm.


As American considered placing its largest-ever aircraft order exclusively with Airbus in the spring of 2011, executives at the carrier initially didn’t believe Boeing thought that the threat was real, according to a person involved with the discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.


Airbus had a team camped out in a suite at the Ritz-Carlton in Dallas, near American’s headquarters. Mr. Leahy traveled to Dallas and dined with the American chief, Mr. Arpey, at the Mansion on Turtle Creek, a five-star hotel. Boeing visited less frequently, according to several people involved in the sales process.


With American pondering which planes to buy, Boeing made a business decision. A former senior Boeing official said the company opted to build the Max because it would be far quicker, easier and cheaper than starting from scratch, and would provide almost as much fuel savings for airlines.


Eventually, American decided to make deals with both Boeing and Airbus, buying hundreds of jets from each. Mr. Arpey called Mr. McNerney again, this time reading from a script to carefully calibrate his words. First, he congratulated the Boeing chief on the deal, according to the person with knowledge of the discussions. Then he broke the news that American would also place an order with Airbus.


Inside Boeing, the race was on. Roughly six months after the project’s launch, engineers were already documenting the differences between the Max and its predecessor, meaning they already had preliminary designs for the Max — a fast turnaround, according to an engineer who worked on the project.


“The timeline was extremely compressed,” the engineer said. “It was go, go, go.”


One former designer on the team working on flight controls for the Max said the group had at times produced 16 technical drawings a week, double the normal rate. “They basically said, ‘We need something now,’” the designer said.


A technician who assembles wiring on the Max said that in the first months of development, rushed designers were delivering sloppy blueprints to him. He was told that the instructions for the wiring would be cleaned up later in the process, he said.


Boeing has come under intense scrutiny after its best-selling 737 Max jet was involved in two deadly crashes in six months.


His internal assembly designs for the Max, he said, still include omissions today, like not specifying which tools to use to install a certain wire, a situation that could lead to a faulty connection. Normally such blueprints include intricate instructions.


Despite the intense atmosphere, current and former employees said, they felt during the project that Boeing’s internal quality checks ensured the aircraft was safe.


In a statement, Boeing said: “The Max program launched in 2011. It was offered to customers in September 2012. Firm configuration of the airplane was achieved in July 2013. The first completed 737 Max 8 rolled out of the Renton factory in November 2015.”


The company added, “A multiyear process could hardly be considered rushed.”


At the heart of Boeing’s push was a focus on creating a plane that was essentially the same as earlier 737 models, important for getting the jet certified quickly. It would also help limit the training that pilots would need, cutting down costs for airlines.


Rick Ludtke, an engineer who helped design the 737 Max cockpit and spent 19 years at Boeing, said the company had set a ground rule for engineers: Limit changes to hopefully avert a requirement that pilots spend time training in a flight simulator before flying the Max.


“Any designs we created could not drive any new training that required a simulator,” Mr. Ludtke said. “That was a first.”


When upgrading the cockpit with a digital display, he said, his team wanted to redesign the layout of information to give pilots more data that were easier to read. But that might have required new pilot training.


So instead, they simply recreated the decades-old gauges on the screen. “We just went from an analog presentation to a digital presentation,” Mr. Ludtke said. “There was so much opportunity to make big jumps, but the training differences held us back.”


“This program was a much more intense pressure cooker than I’ve ever been in,” he added. “The company was trying to avoid costs and trying to contain the level of change. They wanted the minimum change to simplify the training differences, minimum change to reduce costs, and to get it done quickly.”


Boeing said in a statement that the 2011 decision to build the Max had beaten out other options, including developing a new airplane.


“The decision had to offer the best value to customers, including operating economics as well as timing, which was clearly a strong factor,” the company said. “Safety is our highest priority as we design, build and support our airplanes.”


Months before Boeing’s announcement of the Max, the commercial airplanes executive, Mr. Albaugh, critiqued the decision by Airbus to refit the A320 with bigger engines, which could alter the aerodynamics and require big changes to the plane.


“It’s going to be a design change that will ripple through the airplane,” Mr. Albaugh said in the meeting with employees.


“I think they’ll find it more challenging than they think it will be,” he told them. “When they get done, they’ll have an airplane that might be as good as the Next Generation 737,” a plane that Boeing had launched in 1997.


But a main selling point of the new A320 was its fuel-efficient engines. To match Airbus, Boeing needed to mount the Max with its own larger and powerful new engines.


Just as Mr. Albaugh had predicted for Airbus, the decision created a cascade of changes. The bigger engines altered the aerodynamics of the plane, making it more likely to pitch up in some circumstances.


To offset that possibility, Boeing added the new software in the Max, known as MCAS, which would automatically push the nose down if it sensed the plane pointing up at a dangerous angle. The goal was to avoid a stall. Because the system was supposed to work in the background, Boeing believed it didn’t need to brief pilots on it, and regulators agreed. Pilots weren’t required to train in simulators.


The push for automation was a philosophical shift for Boeing, which for decades wanted to keep pilots in control of the planes as much as possible. Airbus, by comparison, tended to embrace technology, putting computers in control. Pilots who preferred the American manufacturer even had a saying: “If it’s not Boeing, I’m not going.”


The new software system is now a focus of investigators who are trying to determine what went wrong in the Ethiopian Airlines crash and the Lion Air tragedy in Indonesia. A leading theory in the Lion Air crash is that the system was receiving bad data from a faulty sensor, triggering an unrecoverable nose dive. All 737 Max jets around the world are grounded, and Boeing has given no estimate of when they might return to flight.


In Renton, Wash., where the 737 Max is produced in a 1.1-million-square-foot plant, the mere possibility that Boeing engineering contributed to the crashes has cast a pall over the factory. After the Lion Air crash, Boeing offered trauma counseling to engineers who had worked on the plane.


“People in my group are devastated by this,” said Mr. Renzelmann, the former Boeing technical engineer. “It’s a heavy burden.”


In a statement, Boeing’s chief executive, Dennis A. Muilenburg, said he had spent time in Renton recently and “saw firsthand the pride our people feel in their work and the pain we’re all experiencing in light of these tragedies.”


Boeing is working on an update to MCAS software. The company was meeting with carriers over the weekend to discuss the update, which is expected to roll out by April. It also intends to make a previously optional safety indicator in its cockpit standard in new Max jets.


The business is increasingly under pressure as airlines reconsider their orders and ask for compensation. But work in Renton is continuing apace.


Boeing now makes a record 52 737s a month — most of them Maxes — and aims to reach 57 by April. As fuselages and plane skeletons continued to chug into the factory by train this past week, crews worked around the clock to make thousands more.


https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/23/b...max-crash.html

Boeing on Saturday said a software upgrade for its grounded 737 MAX 8 planes, which have been involved in two deadly crashes, were ready to be reviewed by the Federal Aviation Administration.


Airlines worldwide grounded the jet after the deadly crash of an Ethiopian Airlines flight on March 10 that killed all 157 people on board. It came less than five months after 189 people died in a Lion Air crash involving a MAX 8 off the coast of Indonesia in October.

The update involves tweaking the system designed to prevent an aerodynamic stall if sensors detect that the plane's nose is pointed too high. After the update, the system will rely on data from more than one sensor before it automatically pushes the plane's nose lower. The system will not repeatedly push the nose down, and it will reduce the magnitude of the change.

https://www.dw.com/en/boeing-present...nes/a-48041530

Don't they normally say "Welcome to this British Airways flight to Edinburgh" or something?

A British Airways flight bound for Dusseldorf from London landed in Edinburgh by accident after a paperwork mix-up.

The mix-up was made by WDL Aviation, who operated the flight on behalf of British Airways. The flight pattern was filed incorrectly the previous day.

Crew who came to work on Monday assumed the flight was bound to Edinburgh, as that is what the flight pattern said, and proceeded as usual.

It is understood that neither the pilot nor the crew realised they were heading for the wrong destination until they landed.

Those on board only realised the error when the plane landed and the "welcome to Edinburgh" announcement was made.

After the mistake was discovered, the plane was re-sealed and flown to the correct destination. Passengers experienced a three hour delay.

Surprised passengers complained on social media, with one writing: "Can you please explain how can my morning flight taking off from LCY to Dusseldorf land in Edinburgh ?

"While an interesting concept, I don't think anyone on board has signed up for this mystery travel lottery..."

Another, Peter-James Hamilton added: "I have fallen asleep, missed my stop and woken up at the end of the district line before. This morning I never expected to wake up from my Dusseldorf bound flight...in Edinburgh".

Passenger Sophie Cooke, a 24-year-old management consultant told the BBC that everyone on board initially thought it was a joke when the "Welcome to Edinburgh" announcement played.

She said the pilot then asked passengers to raise their hands if they wanted to go to Dusseldorf, and that everyone raised their hand.

"It became very frustrating. The toilets were blocked and they ran out of snacks. It was also really stuffy," she said.

A BA spokesperson said: "We are working with WDL Aviation, who operated this flight on behalf of British Airways, to establish why the incorrect flight plan was filed.

"We have apologised to customers for this interruption to their journey and will be contacting them all individually."

WDL added that it was "working closely with the authorities to investigate how the obviously unfortunate mix-up of flight schedules could occur".

"At no time has the safety of passengers been compromised. We flew the passengers on the flight with number BA3271 to Düsseldorf after the involuntary stopover in Edinburgh," it said.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...erwork-mix-up/

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Another old plane that's been modified.

Allegedly already gone through two "modifications" which were considered to not require further "certification" by FAA/Boeing management.

In a comment post on the Leehamn site:

https://leehamnews.com/


There is an allegation that any 737 pilots who actually did use simulators, to be introduced and hence gain type approval for the 737 MAX, enhance knowledge/flying skills, were not "introduced" to the new MCAS solution as it is not in the simulation "training" programme.

Oops.

China signs multibillion-dollar deal with Airbus in another big blow to Boeing




"China will buy a total of 300 passenger jets from European aircraft maker Airbus as its US rival Boeing struggles in the aftermath of two deadly crashes involving its 737 MAX.

The deal was signed during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to France. Beijing’s order includes 290 aircraft from the A320 Family and 10 more from the A350 XWB line, Airbus said in a statement on Monday. The agreement reflects “strong demand” in all sections of the Chinese aviation market, according to the company.

Airbus did not reveal the total value of the deal. However, French officials told Reuters that it could be worth €30 billion (around $34 billion), roughly matching Airbus’ list prices.

“The conclusion of a big [aviation] contract... is an important step forward and an excellent signal in the current context,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a joint address with Xi Jinping.

Apart from the order for 300 jets, the two sides signed the total of 15 business contracts in sectors ranging from energy to shipping. France’s industrial equipment supplier Fives and the China National Building Materials Group inked a €1 billion ($1.13 billion) deal on cooperation in energy savings in developing countries.

Another €1.2 billion ($1.36 billion) agreement to build 10 container ships was signed between the Marseille-based shipping line CMA CGM and China State Shipbuilding Corporation. Beijing also agreed to lift an embargo on French poultry, which was imposed following bird flu outbreaks in France.

The massive contract with the European aviation giant comes after Boeing’s 737 MAX aircraft were grounded following two fatal crashes in recent months. China was the first to suspend the aircraft operation. Previously, Beijing was set to purchase up to 300 Boeing jets, but the US-China trade war is believed to have put that deal on hold.

Xi Jinping came to France after his three-day visit to Rome, during which the two sides signed the memorandum of understanding on Italy’s joining of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The deal was sealed despite other EU countries, including France and Germany, warning Rome against the move. French President Emmanuel Macron called on his European allies to stick to a more consolidated approach toward China."

https://www.rt.com/business/454767-a...00-jets-china/

China not taking Boeing 737 MAX 8 airworthiness certificate applications

"BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s civil aviation regulator has stopped taking applications for Boeing’s 737 Max 8 airworthiness certification since March 21, an official at the regulator’s news department said on Tuesday.

China was the first to ground the newest version of Boeing’s workhorse 737 model earlier this month following a deadly Ethiopian Airlines crash, prompting a series of regulatory actions by other governments worldwide.

The official did not provide any other details.
Earlier on Tuesday, financial magazine Caijing reported that the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) had suspended certification for Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, citing an internal document issued on March 21.

“Given the aircraft faces uncertainties in its airworthiness, after studying, it is decided that (the regulator) will stop issuing Boeing 737 Max 8 airworthiness certification immediately,” the CAAC was quoted by Caijing as saying, adding that the ongoing investigation had not ruled out the possibility of an aircraft design issue.
The regulator also said it will only resume reviewing applications when it is determined that the aircraft is airworthy and it has sent staff to take part in the investigation and to review design changes, according to Caijing.

It took Boeing 15 months to get the airworthiness certification for the aircraft from CAAC, which it obtained in October 2017, Caijing said, citing industry insiders.
Boeing did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. "


https://www.reuters.com/article/us-e...KCN1R7188?il=0

So the old chinky deathtraps aren't ready to fly yet then. Have they not finished nicking all the stuff they need?