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Boeing whistleblower raises doubts over 787 oxygen system

bbc.com

81–90 of 223 posts

Re: Boeing whistleblower raises doubts over 787 oxygen system

#81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am aware of a cover-up regarding a broadly deployed consumer medical device made by a giant American healthcare co., intended for internal use, which contained levels of lead exceeding allowed levels. Millions of units were shipped, many of them targeted at children. They screwed up using their materials management solution, and miscalculated. They realised about 18 months after it had hit the market. The revised p…

> which contained levels of lead exceeding allowed levels... many of them targeted at children You know the catchphrase, "think of the children", often used to justify some kind of overreach? In this case, please, _think of the children_ and for the sake of us all, even anonymously, get that info to the media.

I’m sitting on the fence. In this case, they were very, very marginally over the allowed levels, and it was essentially down to a bug in the standard, which when implemented in software allowed a product to qualify for an exemption when it shouldn’t have. In this particular case the lead is all pretty well away from where the device comes in contact with the body, so the health risk is pretty minimal.

It’s still in the “shouldn’t have happened” category, and the manufacturer in question reported themselves, and steps have already been taken to prevent a recurrence, and similar potential bugs have been identified and addressed.

It’s tough. There is a lot of political opposition from bad or amoral players to any regulation. They’re faced with the choice of voluntarily opening themselves up to fierce criticism over a, in the grand scheme of things, minor issue, or sweeping it well under the carpet, learning from it, and moving on, and spreading their reach for regulation and enforcement.

It’s a trolley car problem if I’ve ever encountered one, and I am not confident that I could make a good call.

Re: Boeing whistleblower raises doubts over 787 oxygen system

#82

Just curious - what are the repercussions for an untruthful whistleblower? Say someone is disgruntled, fired or laid off and wants to cause the company some level of public harm?

Both Boeing and the FAA acknowledge there was an issue. The only disagreement is over if it was resolved fully or not. So this whistleblower isn't "untruthful." This is all in the article.

Re: Boeing whistleblower raises doubts over 787 oxygen system

#83
post #72
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say, as european, that all this storm of shit is good news for Airbus, but I hop on Boeing planes too, and I think competition is good news. Boeing is maybe too big to fail, but the reputation hit they are taking may lead to companies not buying their planes, thus pushing for least competition, which is bad news for everyone. Airbus being the kind of behemoth company it is, I am convinced that without Boeing'…

Actually, there as an argument that it is not good for Airbus at all because it will risk the stability of duopoly between Boing and Airbus. The idea is that now Boing will be forced to actually invest tens of billions in new aircraft design, forcing Airbus to do the same instead of milking the current designs for as long as possible. Also, apparently the aircraft manufacturing is not a very flexible business and Air…

Was not the problem with MAX in part due to Boeing trying to milk the old design?

Re: Boeing whistleblower raises doubts over 787 oxygen system

#84
post #16

There is at least one big airline that denies to accept airliners built in Charleston. Don't remember which. So quality problems are not invented by a single disgruntled employee. There have been news articles before https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/20/business/boeing-dreamline... says that Qatar Airways "stopped" accepting planes fron Charleston. Not sure whether that means indefinitely or until the planes in questio…

It's possible to find out whether a 787 was made in Everett or Charleston by checking the production site and remarks on planespotters.net

e.g. https://www.planespotters.net/airframe/Boeing/787/G-ZBJM-Bri... vs. https://www.planespotters.net/airframe/Boeing/787/9V-SCF-Sin...

Re: Boeing whistleblower raises doubts over 787 oxygen system

#85
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Al Jazeera is in general completely biased against Israel and YES, I MENTIONED that I have issues with a lot of their reporting. At the same time watch the report and get your own conclusions before shooting it down based on YOUR biases and prejudices, that reporting is solid, it has video evidence from an employee walking inside the Charleston factory and chatting with co-workers regarding the safety of the planes a…

One ends up with the most rounded view of the world by reviewing media with many different slants and biases and assuming the truth probably lies somewhere between all the biased news stories.

I've heard it said that journalism is never objective, and nor does it strive to be. However, responsible journalism is aware of its biases and reports in a manner that allows audiences to weigh the facts themselves.

Re: Boeing whistleblower raises doubts over 787 oxygen system

#86

Just curious - what are the repercussions for an untruthful whistleblower? Say someone is disgruntled, fired or laid off and wants to cause the company some level of public harm?

lol @ you being downvoted for even asking. Shows how much of a leftist website this is: someone who goes against big corporations must be right!

Re: Boeing whistleblower raises doubts over 787 oxygen system

#87
post #28

"""On the matter of parts being lost, in early 2017 a review by the Federal Aviation Administration upheld Mr Barnett's concerns, establishing that the location of at least 53 "non-conforming" parts was unknown, and that they were considered lost. Boeing was ordered to take remedial action""" That's not just bad; this is really, _really_ bad. In my eight years of the Navy, working on aircraft, parts and tool accounta…

There has already been reporting on people leaving ladders and other tools inside delivered 787s. I'm not sure what Boeing is good at anymore besides gaming regulatory systems.

Re: Boeing whistleblower raises doubts over 787 oxygen system

#88
post #28

"""On the matter of parts being lost, in early 2017 a review by the Federal Aviation Administration upheld Mr Barnett's concerns, establishing that the location of at least 53 "non-conforming" parts was unknown, and that they were considered lost. Boeing was ordered to take remedial action""" That's not just bad; this is really, _really_ bad. In my eight years of the Navy, working on aircraft, parts and tool accounta…

The US Air Force has/had problems with the KC-46 (767) being delivered from Boeing with FOD and tools left in the aircraft. So they could use some improvements in the quality control area.

Re: Boeing whistleblower raises doubts over 787 oxygen system

#89
post #16

There is at least one big airline that denies to accept airliners built in Charleston. Don't remember which. So quality problems are not invented by a single disgruntled employee. There have been news articles before https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/20/business/boeing-dreamline... says that Qatar Airways "stopped" accepting planes fron Charleston. Not sure whether that means indefinitely or until the planes in questio…

I heard the same thing about Charleston from a European airliner that is buying boeings. The project managers wished their airplane wouldn't be assembled there, because that causes a whole bunch of extra problems. There were plenty of rumours going around of what was happening at that plant. The quality difference was definitely there, and I'm surprised not more airlines requested that. Maybe they did bit it was behi…

It would appear QANTAS doesn't have any ex-Charleston 787s either. Couldn't say whether it's intentional.

Re: Boeing whistleblower raises doubts over 787 oxygen system

#90
post #74

>On December 13, 2018, the 787th Boeing 787 was delivered to AerCap, the largest 787 lessor. By then the 787 had flown 300 million passengers on 1.5 million flights and opened 210 new nonstop routes. There have been 894 deliveries through September 2019. So far only one incident involving the uncontained failure of a Rolls Royce Trent 1000 engine. There have been no complete losses. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boei…

>Rolls Royce Trent

Great 'final assembly' time-lapse video of the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2R6NTgvEV4

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