Ms. Haley's leaving the Board only highlights the situation: "Is Boeing too big to fail?" Like the GM bailout a few years back, we are faced with the dilemma of possibly swallowing some very bad medicine. We all recognize from the MAX debacle that the culture of the company had changed where the bottom line was more important than creating a perfect plane that was 100% safe. On the defense side there are projects that we would not like to see fail for reasons of our national defense but at the same time have turned out to have major problems like the KC-46 with $300 million overrun. Maybe to approach Boeing as a over-sized company that needs to reorganize not unlike AT&T back in the 1980's. Boeing being spun into several different companies brings up issues like economies of scale they may realize in their current integrated state. However as a condition of getting a bailout, they need to be confronted to explore the possibilities of a radical breakup to make the operating units mor

(Written on 27/03/2020)(Permalink)

John Robinson is absolutely right not to automatically give in to bail them out. This is perhaps a time to invoke the "creative destruction of capital"- Schumpeter. We do have some bad airline and American is one of them. They deserve to fail just based on how they treat staff. The better airlines will rise to the surface and pick up the slack once the virus is under control. Markets undisturbed by the hairy hand of government work best. Remember Reagan's saying - the 10 scariest words in the language "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you." We need to be sure we get our monies worth with the companies we actively support during this virus mess.

(Written on 20/03/2020)(Permalink)

Hello again from Row 30! We all want the 757 back. I loved the plane as a passenger, loved watching it take off, the way it pitched up so confidentially from the run way. 757 with Rolls RB-211 engines like Trump's private jet before he became POTUS - a classic aircraft. If they were to upgrade the 757, just not to call it the 757 MAX! In reading all the comments here, I'd say we all need to be bugging the FAA director Steve Dickson to get in the left seat and take the 737 MAX for a spin. As a former Delta pilot qualified in 737 as well as other aircraft types, who better to give the thumbs up on the fixes to this variant of the 737 than he. And please do it soon.

(Written on 25/01/2020)(Permalink)

Ive flown Ukrainian Airlines often and found the pilots to be as professional as you would find anywhere. I'm thinking in this case when the rocket(s) hit the plane the pilots were killed outright. Judging by the fireball the plane was doomed as soon as the rockets hit. With a full load of fuel for the flight to Kyiv, there was little that could be done. A horrible accident initiated by some trigger happy guys manning a missile battery.

(Written on 10/01/2020)(Permalink)

Meantime, back in seat 30D.......I continue to be amazed at what I consider the bad judgement of Boeing executives on what kind of plane to offer. It just seems that the MAX was a step too far for the 737 line. Shoulda stopped with the NG and done a total redesign on the single-isle concept. I fully understand building a new plane is not a cheap proposition. And the Board said let's wring one more variant out of the 737 line - it's cheaper and we can make a good plane. As for the MCAS, well it's like watching the movie "Dr. Strangelove". The twisted mind that was so graphically played by Peter Sellers was surely the whole software team that developed MCAS! We've yet to really know the degree of expertise of the software developers - how many were senior Boeing engineers in Renton and how many may have been folks in India that were scratching their heads and being asked to do multiple "reworks" on the software. Please clear this point up. Finally, the thing I cannot forgive Boeing

(Written on 18/10/2019)(Permalink)

Don't get me started on the KC-46. This should have been an easy conversion of the 767 airframes to meet the Air Forces needs but it seems Boeing has had a huge learning curve especially on things like the refueling boom. There were issuess with the wiring, avionics as well as tool being left in finished planes - go figure! I see similar problems across the board with the MAX, 787 in Charleston and the Kc-46 with the company doing way too much outsourcing and failing to QC all their processes as well as each finished aircraft. They want to push another unit out the door for the good old bottom line. Most of all the loss of engineering expertise in both Renton and Everett in favor of the $9.00/hr. software jockeys in India is simply being Penny-Wise and Pound Foolish. Boeing is going to have to work very hard to recover from these missteps.

(Written on 09/08/2019)(Permalink)

The rat (executive (s)) we are looking for is the guy or guys who decided to let the $9.00 engineers in India do the software. When you had great US talent in Renton and Everett they were sacrificed to save pennies. Surely the Boeing execs cannot be so blind as not to see that the cheap guys can cost you millions through reworks and delays (and billions maybe in lost sales). And now a lot of dead people whose relatives will want financial retribution. I'm just a passenger but certainly sorry to see these mistakes causing the loss of reputation of one of America's most iconic companies.

(Written on 15/07/2019)(Permalink)

The FAA is doing a CYA in light of their laissez faire approach on the 737 MAX. This 787 notice is nothing but a "housekeeping" exercise for the FAA as Boeing long ago make the fixes. The 737 problems are the ones needing resolution. Boeing's Mullenberger talks to stockholders and still seems to think the 30 minute iPad program is enough to get pilots up to speed on the MCAS. My belief is that Boeing at this point, should be bending over backwards to be absolutely sure pilots understand MCAS and that would mean mandated simulator time to test out the stall characteristics of the MCAS system. Costly? Yes, but it would show Boeing not as a penny pincher but as a responsible corporate citizen making sure that their MAX is fully understood by those who will fly it.

(Written on 03/05/2019)(Permalink)

I am not a member either but went to this link where you can set up a free membership in 2 minutes https://services10.ieee.org/as/authorization.oauth2?response_type=code&client_id=PF_AS_FOR_PA&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fspectrum.ieee.org%2Fpa%2Foidc%2Fcb&state=eyJ6aXAiOiJERUYiLCJzdWZmaXgiOiJ3R0FVU2IiLCJhbGciOiJkaXIiLCJlbmMiOiJBMTI4Q0JDLUhTMjU2Iiwia2lkIjoiM2EifQ..xTCcwSOuPDzO0Tj6aWLP6g.7vMdXZpqWnGpEyzVQm7sI-uJHFVH7v2ZVEHXECRWm7GiiPrfnWK9qzYpu9d8Pl0Gs3RA-3crBV-RLXH2iHCpZkawA69JwhSpgiZPJSan8-m8HD7EbG_qQFwWhwfwzmBI8tO8eTEkpN9t8K1EzZqCMY_yFFAh1rK34OXMBaNjufIvG04SsjH96yejselRmWPK.edcwvHOK96ag89K6Gm1vxQ&nonce=6CcJdXJJkEiDJZ1KgobwZWxdniN8aGSXUcj1NDtBdTY&acr_values=spe%20sts%20stm%20prf%20crt%20msp%20col%20otk%20cmp%20cmc&scope=openid%20profile%20address%20email%20phone&vnd_pi_requested_resource=https%3A%2F%2Fspectrum.ieee.org%2Fuser%2Flogin%3Fredirect_url%3D%2Faerospace%2Faviation%2Fhow-the-boeing-737-max-disaster-looks-to-a-software-developer&vnd_pi_application_name=SPECTRUM

(Written on 26/04/2019)(Permalink)

I'm not a pilot, just a lowly passenger suffering with normal seat pitch issues or clogged toilets. Those minor inconveniences still have always left me with the knowledge that I would arrive safely. No more! I read the article and it highlighted for me, how the culture of building a plane and then having it's safety elements verified by an independent party (the FAA) have been compromised. I believe Mr. Travis has shown how we have reached a serious cross roads where we need to look more closely at human/computer interaction - as a human pilot when do we take back control? Think Air France A-330 accident over the Atlantic a few years back. We also should expect more out of the airframe integrators. Boeing was lazy and wanted to push one more 737 variant out the door without having to design and build a totally new plane and the economics for doing that are highlighted in the article very well. At a minimum, Boeing should have boldly highlighted to the pilot community who would b

(Written on 26/04/2019)(Permalink)