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Unexpected cracking found on critical Boeing 737 Next Generation part

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Re: Unexpected cracking found on critical Boeing 737 Next Generation part

#111

Post by tonyedgecombe »

osamagirl69 wrote: post #94
kzrdude wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There must have been some security checkpoint when you entered the departure area of the airport. But the rest I agree with. I'm used to the european airports - they are unfortunately like shopping malls, and totally in your face about it. Enter through security right into a big display of perfumes and other overpriced goods, that's the standard thing. What surprised me when I was over in Newark airport (and in NY JF…

I flew from finland to germany yesterday and had the same experience. Checked in online, didn't wait in any lines, and never had to show an ID in the process. I am american, and did not even have to enter my passport details into the online checkin.

That’s probably because both countries are in the Schengen area.

Re: Unexpected cracking found on critical Boeing 737 Next Generation part

#113

Post by mnky9800n »

arkitaip wrote: post #45
tfha wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think anyone needs to be concerned about the safety of flying, even with all the news flying is still statistically extremely safe. I will agree though that the TSA has made things pretty dehumanizing.

It's crazy how much the flight experience varies between countries. I recently traveled between Sweden and Germany and the entire experience from online check-in to reaching my destination was painless and very convenient. There was very little queuing and the longest one was on the tax free when I bought water... Didn't even have to show my passport during the flights and I was never checked by security.

Returning to America always makes me feel like I'm entering a place that's slightly more dystopic and police state than Norway. From the long queues at the border crossing, to the appearance of military worship advertisements, America feels a bit weird these days.

Re: Unexpected cracking found on critical Boeing 737 Next Generation part

#114

Post by mnky9800n »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #111
osamagirl69 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I flew from finland to germany yesterday and had the same experience. Checked in online, didn't wait in any lines, and never had to show an ID in the process. I am american, and did not even have to enter my passport details into the online checkin.

That’s probably because both countries are in the Schengen area.

Yes but try flying from California to NY without having an uncomfortable TSA experience.

Re: Unexpected cracking found on critical Boeing 737 Next Generation part

#116

Post by rwmj »

kzrdude wrote: post #89
peteretep wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I’m never flying Boeing again I suspect you were intending this to be obvious hyperbole, but also this will be very difficult if you’re flying at all regularly. While you can have a look at the equipment the airline thinks it’ll be flying at booking time, there’s no guarantees about which plane will actually show up, and the airline isn’t going to refund your ticket because they decided to swap out their A350 for t…

All this plane talk makes me curious, if there are any airlines that tell you ahead of time what planes they are using for a route? I guess they'd now be even less inclined to tell.

Budget airlines sometimes use one type of plane, eg. Ryanair only flying Boeing 737-800 (so I guess the original poster would want to avoid them!)

Re: Unexpected cracking found on critical Boeing 737 Next Generation part

#117

Post by dehrmann »

anon91831837 wrote: post #97

Unsurprising given the 2010 Al Jazeera revelations of the Boeing-Ducommun conspiracy and cover-up: critical structural elements that were supposed to be CNC machined by Ducommun were crudely made by hand and Boeing managers ordered them installed into 737 NG (-600, -700, -800, -900) anyhow. And then when a blue-ribbon panel of Boeing employees went to find out what happened, their findings were buried and no correcti…

> leading to several fuselage breakups

[citation needed]. It's what AJ is positing, but it's presented like a correlation, I don't think investigators called that out an a cause of the breakups, and it's been 10 years since that was made and this doesn't seem to be a major problem. One thing I read suggested that the fuselage is strongest at the wing, so the break happens away from that section. That, and hard landing is an understatement; One landed short of the runway, another overshot it, and one dropped onto it.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AAnima... (4:55)

Re: Unexpected cracking found on critical Boeing 737 Next Generation part

#118

Post by azernik »

tempguy9999 wrote: post #108
azernik wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN doesn't appreciate confident arguments that are based on zero or anecdotal evidence. It also doesn't appreciate goalpost-shifting (from safety record in terms of crashes, to in terms of nukes going off (???)). More generally, fanboyish rants about how $FOO is the best $BAR ever made tend to draw particular attention. And lastly, complaining about downvotes is in the actual guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/…

IIRC atomic explosions are intrinsically difficult things to set off. I suppose the lensing explosive might go off and blow around nasty chunks, particulates, metal vapour perhaps, without actually producing a nuclear explosion of any sort. (IANA nuke engineer)

Yup - though there are still safety problems, especially when it comes to inputs that might set off the trigger circuitry e.g. a lightning strike might have set off some early weapons. See Eric Schlosser's Command and Control for a history of nuclear weapons safety.

(BTW - even a fizzle can have the force of a pretty large conventional bomb. e.g. the first North Korean nuclear test, which probably fizzled, had a yield of something like 1kt TNT-equivalent, and the failed attempts to make a uranium hydride bombs still yielded something like 200t TNT-equivalent.)

Re: Unexpected cracking found on critical Boeing 737 Next Generation part

#119

Post by peteretep »

kzrdude wrote: post #89
peteretep wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I’m never flying Boeing again I suspect you were intending this to be obvious hyperbole, but also this will be very difficult if you’re flying at all regularly. While you can have a look at the equipment the airline thinks it’ll be flying at booking time, there’s no guarantees about which plane will actually show up, and the airline isn’t going to refund your ticket because they decided to swap out their A350 for t…

All this plane talk makes me curious, if there are any airlines that tell you ahead of time what planes they are using for a route? I guess they'd now be even less inclined to tell.

Virtually every airline will tell you on their bookings pages. If you’re flying in the front of the plane, there can be major differences in the hard product between different planes of the same carrier. Qatar Airways kept some crummy slanted recliner chairs in business on their A340s for a long time after the A380 had a great fully-flat bed and a bar onboard, and would fly it on the same route. FinnAir have some great seats on their Asian fleet A350s, but you’ll have a nasty shock if you fly Tokyo-Helsinki-New York as they have some truly dated and shabby A330s flying the latter part.

But: it doesn’t form part of the contract, so no complaints if you get shafted with an old plane.

Re: Unexpected cracking found on critical Boeing 737 Next Generation part

#120

Post by TestPilot »

Zero mention as to where the part was manufactured...

I was surprised to find that a lot of information is found online. However, there's no specific mention of "pickle fork" here: http://www.airframer.com/aircraft_detail.html?model=B737#Air...

I'm not an engineer, but it looks like Magellan Aerospace Kitchener (ON, Canada) built Wing Components and Spirit Aerosystems (Wichita, Kansas, USA) built Wing Spars and the Front Fuselage. Could have been either one of those.

My guess is it's Spirit as it's mentioned in the notes they build 75% of the airframe in total.

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