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United finds loose bolts on plug doors during 737 Max 9 inspections

theaircurrent.com

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Re: United finds loose bolts on plug doors during 737 Max 9 inspections

#211

Post by fulladder »

gruez wrote: post #121
intunderflow wrote: post #6

At what point do consumers en-masse refuse to fly on these aircraft, if ever? When there's a few more fatal crashes?

Statistically speaking it's not worth worrying about. In 2021 there were less than 0.001 deaths per 100M passenger miles. Assuming these aircraft are 10x more dangerous than the alternative, that works out to 0.01 deaths per 100M passenger miles, or 0.00000026 deaths NY to SF flight. For an average american aged 38.9 years[2] with 40 years of life left[3], that works out to a loss of life of 5.4 minutes. I don't thin…

Excellent analysis.

Re: United finds loose bolts on plug doors during 737 Max 9 inspections

#213

Post by dataflow »

Kluggy wrote: post #205
dataflow wrote: post #163

How were these not noticed in proper inspections? Is this the first time these planes have been inspected?

They generally don't disassemble the entire plane every time they get inspected...

This required a full disassembly to be noticed?

Re: United finds loose bolts on plug doors during 737 Max 9 inspections

#214

Post by barryrandall »

dustedcodes wrote: post #184

[flagged]

Boeing discontinued their widely-panned "Death Plane" after customers learned about a design flaw that causes the plane to crash itself when it encounters atmospheric conditions that Boeing characterizes as "common and entirely predictable." While they promised to fix the problem before the planes were returned to service, company representatives were able to purchase an exemption from several members of congress. The "On-Time, On-Budget, Kinda Safe Plane" took its place in the Boeing lineup last year.

Re: United finds loose bolts on plug doors during 737 Max 9 inspections

#215

Post by aledalgrande »

bad_alloc wrote: post #157

How is Airbus doing meanwhile? I didn't hear about any production quality issues in their aircraft.

> The A320neo family has had four ground fatalities and one hull loss accident as of November 2022.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A320neo_family

A320neo is the direct competitor to the MAX. So yeah, they're doing pretty well.

Re: United finds loose bolts on plug doors during 737 Max 9 inspections

#216

Post by [deleted] »

leetrout wrote: post #85
thinkingtoilet wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>People at large simply cannot be bothered to care about anything People care deeply about a lot of things, just not this. And why should they? When you have every business decision made either by private equity or public companies with a focus only on the next 90 days it turns out everything goes to shit. Wages are stagnant. Wealth inequality is massive. Our society is sick. Issues like this will only increase. Our…

Random aside: I looked up an Acela ticket this morning. $1000 for a first class ticket from DC to BOS. 6.5 hours. Same flight first class with Delta this week is $850. Also 6 hours with layover. Blows my mind first class rail travel is as much as first class air travel.

[deleted]

Re: United finds loose bolts on plug doors during 737 Max 9 inspections

#217

Post by jacquesm »

flamedoge wrote: post #170
Scoundreller wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or it means the torque specs were a little too low, or too high and stripped, or the bolt threading was defective/spec’d wrong. Or bad metallurgy. Or the spec didn’t specify which order to tighten the bolts, so which direction you go causes different outcomes. Lots of stuff is assembled consistently and carefully “wrong”, but as specified.

idk what aviation standards say but shouldnt loctite or spring washers at least be used

Bolts are torqued down to spec and if specified will have a retention mechanism, usually a pin, a foldover or a wire.

Re: United finds loose bolts on plug doors during 737 Max 9 inspections

#218

Post by ramesh31 »

outside1234 wrote: post #153

Such a crappy aircraft - can we just get rid of these already?

>Such a crappy aircraft - can we just get rid of these already?

It was a beautiful aircraft, destroyed by years of management comittees.

Boeing needs to be broken up and reorganized, full stop. Congress has to act. It is simply too important and vital of a company to US strategic interests to be left in this state.

Re: United finds loose bolts on plug doors during 737 Max 9 inspections

#219

Post by myself248 »

pluc wrote: post #119
blindriver wrote: post #101

Doesn’t this call into question the manufacturing of ALL 737 MAX’s including the 7 and 8 since they must use the same manufacturing process?

Yeah this isn't a plane issue, it's a guy holding the drill issue as far as I understand it

If a guy holding the drill CAN cause this issue, that means there's ALSO a drill calibration issue, a bolt inspection issue, an inspection recordkeeping and doublechecking issue, etc.

Humans make mistakes. The whole point of modern manufacturing is to make products better than any human can make them, by layering processes and procedures to catch those mistakes before they get out the door, and continually improve the processes to catch ever more.

Re: United finds loose bolts on plug doors during 737 Max 9 inspections

#220

Post by janice1999 »

Kluggy wrote: post #205
dataflow wrote: post #163

How were these not noticed in proper inspections? Is this the first time these planes have been inspected?

They generally don't disassemble the entire plane every time they get inspected...

They do disassemble the entire plane for heavy maintenance checks every 6-12 years. The MAX 9 has been in operation for just a few weeks though...
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