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“I worked at Boeing for about 1.5 years in the 2008-9 time period”

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Re: “I worked at Boeing for about 1.5 years in the 2008-9 time period”

#131

Post by agumonkey »

spectramax wrote: post #2

Btw, the new "fix" for the MCAS has just been announced and discussed by a 40-year experienced pilot [1]. Turns out that while we shouldn't be doing armchair analysis and assuming the worst of the engineering, management and executive team; the software fix released appears to be rather elementary and MCAS should have been designed with these safety checks in the first place. Why it wasn't is a huge concern and we wo…

I don't get it, Boeing seemed to have a positive slope, with their plane outselling the competition. Fragile system design is hard to understand in this context. But maybe MCAS were conceived at a time where Boeing was more willing to cut corners.

Re: “I worked at Boeing for about 1.5 years in the 2008-9 time period”

#132

Post by cjbprime »

phkahler wrote: post #81
Scarblac wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's worse than having one sensor, the chance that one of two breaks is larger than that just a single one breaks. And by alternating you ensure that the broken sensor will be used.

Was talking to my flight instructor about twin engine planes. He was adamant that they were LESS safe than single engines because 1) you are twice as likely to have an engine failure and 2) the statistics indicate (non-intuitively) that an engine-out in a twin is more likely to lead to fatalities. He said the insurance companies used to think twins were safer but they have adjusted their rates after looking at actual…

Yeah, there's a pilot proverb about how having a second engine "helps you get to the crash site faster".

Re: “I worked at Boeing for about 1.5 years in the 2008-9 time period”

#133

Post by garaetjjte »

spectramax wrote: post #2

Btw, the new "fix" for the MCAS has just been announced and discussed by a 40-year experienced pilot [1]. Turns out that while we shouldn't be doing armchair analysis and assuming the worst of the engineering, management and executive team; the software fix released appears to be rather elementary and MCAS should have been designed with these safety checks in the first place. Why it wasn't is a huge concern and we wo…

>Furthermore, electric trim with the yoke switch will override MCAS.

Does that mean it didn't override MCAS before? Really?

Re: “I worked at Boeing for about 1.5 years in the 2008-9 time period”

#134

Post by mcguire »

PaulHoule wrote: post #101
ozmaverick72 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The software fixes as described sound sensible and it's hard to believe they were not in the original design. Unfortunately I don't see how these changes will allow them to keep a common type rating with the 737 NG. After the updated MCAS has made its one shot trim adjustment you will now be flying an aircraft with different handling characteristics if you keep increasing the angle of attack into the stall. Surely th…

Having a new type rating is a fair punishment, I think, for Boeing and the airlines who have been stringing along this obsolete airliner for way too long. Note the 737 MAX was rushed out not just to fight the A320neo but also to counter this kind of jet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A220 which is cheaper to run than the 737 MAX but also has much better passenger comfort than the 737. I was in the similar http…

How is the 737 obsolete?

Re: “I worked at Boeing for about 1.5 years in the 2008-9 time period”

#135

Post by Pigo »

gruez wrote: post #119
tomohawk wrote: post #91

Its interesting how an unknown source making unverifiable claims on a site which is basically a rumor mill gets so much attention.

It's not, if you think about it. People believe what they want to hear. Unverified post agreeing with the popular narrative gets immediately accepted as fact, and posts disagreeing with the narrative gets accused of being shills or damage control. I'm not saying this guy is a fraud, but if there's no supporting evidence, there's no evidence to believe him.

There's probably some truth to it, but there is probably some confirmation bias to his story. I have no love for big companies with horrible corporate culture. But this is like a Yelp review from an unsatisfied customer, might be true, but should be taken with a grain of salt.

Re: “I worked at Boeing for about 1.5 years in the 2008-9 time period”

#136

Post by dmonagha »

Pigo wrote: post #125

I contracted with a branch of Lockheed. While I couldn't/shouldn't talk about any of the technology involved, I can attest to the culture I witnessed. I always assumed it was horrible because of the government affiliation. But I think that mostly affected their focus, in that most of the branch was dedicated to wasting money so they could ask for more money. However, the culture itself was stagnate by design. Most of…

I worked at a similar large aerospace contractor just in the past couple years. I can attest 100% to what you've said.

They estimated they would need to replace 40% of their workforce within the next 10 years just to stay afloat. Recently at my old site they hired 1000 people. Within a year, 800 had quit. These are software engineers, mechanical engineers, etc. I watched people just play on their phones, keep their feet up, basically do nothing at all.

One guy showed up to work on the first day and was told by his manager : "I don't have an office, so you'll have to sit here for now". The manager then flew back to another state, and the guy did not see him ever again. For a year this guy played Candy Crush on an iPad and did nothing because no one else knew who he was or who he worked for. Eventually he got a new manager and his job was then unboxing computers...for a year...When I started working with him, he would go into a large empty lab and just lay down behind some boxes and nap for 2hrs a day.

He was hired to be some sort of cost accountant.

This was not uncommon, it was rampant. I still cannot believe workplaces like that exist.

Re: “I worked at Boeing for about 1.5 years in the 2008-9 time period”

#137

Post by vonmoltke »

jacobush wrote: post #98
gdy wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"SpaceX has ballistic missiles with a CEP significantly smaller than a drone ship" It goes quite slowly compared to a real ICBM and relies on GPS that will be jammed in a real war.

Don't you think they could easily replace the GPS with some other navigation module?

I don't. The most accurate navigation system that doesn't require an off-platform signal is inertial (INS). INS units drift badly (relatively speaking), with errors measured in tens or hundreds of meters after only an hour. I have personally seen data from a unit that was off by kilometers after a couple days without GPS correction.

Re: “I worked at Boeing for about 1.5 years in the 2008-9 time period”

#138

Post by mcguire »

ebg13 wrote: post #120
phkahler wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was talking to my flight instructor about twin engine planes. He was adamant that they were LESS safe than single engines because 1) you are twice as likely to have an engine failure and 2) the statistics indicate (non-intuitively) that an engine-out in a twin is more likely to lead to fatalities. He said the insurance companies used to think twins were safer but they have adjusted their rates after looking at actual…

To your second point, my assumption as a non-pilot is that a symmetrically balanced glide is more controllable than lopsided thrust that could put you into a spin?

Loss of one engine at low speed will leave a twin uncontrollable. See Vmc (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_speeds?wprov=sfla1).

Re: “I worked at Boeing for about 1.5 years in the 2008-9 time period”

#139

Post by [deleted] »

m_mueller wrote: post #21
nostrademons wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes I wonder what'll happen if the United States ever has to fight a war against an opponent whose industrial base is not 150 years behind it. Then again, I've heard Russian military equipment is in just as sorry a state. No idea what the Chinese military is like, but I'd imagine the real money is in selling to Americans rather than killing them. We're in this interesting place where it's entirely possible that…

I think a war between China and the US, with neutral Russia [1], would be truly terrifying. To given example of the level of sophistication, just have a look at [2]. All the signs point towards China overtaking the US in industrial power, if it hasn't already happened. [1] if Russia isn't neutral it would stay cold anyways due to MAD I think. [2] https://dms.licdn.com/playback/C4D05AQE8hl2GCSdo1Q/feedshare...

[deleted]

Re: “I worked at Boeing for about 1.5 years in the 2008-9 time period”

#140

Post by mo1ok »

puranjay wrote: post #123
basetop wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can thank their redesign. Try using "old.reddit.com" while it last. And stop using reddit once that gets taken down. Reddit was once a great site. Now it's a corporatized, censored mess that sold its soul for short-term cashout in their 2020 IPO.

I have never seen a more incompetent redesign in my life, especially for a "unicorn". That new redesign completely falls apart on Chrome on my mobile (a OnePlus 5T). Comment threads get squished together so much that by the 5th comment in a thread, all words are basically vertically arranged. If I switch to "desktop site" on Chrome, any text I enter gets automatically erased after hitting a certain number of characte…

"oops, there's nothing here!" .

This happens on every subreddit, every. single. time. I can't believe in 2018 we got a front-end that does this, just shoddy, shoddy engineering.

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