Live data from Hacker News

Boeing's upgraded 737 Max completes first flight with media onboard

reuters.com

171–180 of 290 posts

Re: Boeing's upgraded 737 Max completes first flight with media onboard

#171
post #154
post #87

Don’t care. Show me real movement on the corporate mindset. The plane is a STEM engineer fixable issue. The corporate mess that pushed this across flying clearance is not. I’ll aim to fly airbus until Boeing understands that difference and fixes the root cause.

Airbus aircraft are generally smoother and quieter rides in my experience.

Funny, because I have had the opposite experience.

Re: Boeing's upgraded 737 Max completes first flight with media onboard

#172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe the FAA should have insisted that the MAX get several hundred hours in the air - e.g. flying for courier companies over Christmas peak - BEFORE recertifying it for public use.

Why would that be better than the hundreds of hours of flight testing that they have done since the plane was grounded? Everyday flights are as boring as possible on purpose, you do everything you can to keep the plane away from the limits. Flight testing inverts that. You run everything to the limit, and beyond, to see if it is possible for systems to fail.

> Everyday flights are as boring as possible on purpose

But the frequency of flights increases the probability of an unusual or unforeseen event occurring, or tested events occurring but in combination. Just like beta testing.

It's also how the Soviet regulators certified their aircraft, they required them to operate for a year or more on cargo and mail flights so that they were exposed to a wide range of environmental and operational scenarios.

> Everyday flights are as boring as possible on purpose

So were the commercial 737 Max flights, yet here we are.

Re: Boeing's upgraded 737 Max completes first flight with media onboard

#173
post #6

In a weird way, having the Max grounded during 2020 turned out to be lucky timing on Boeing's part. The airlines slowdown due to COVID likely gave them some serious breathing room while they got their shit together. Now hopefully they actually did get their shit together.

I think I disagree. If they’d taken the time to scrap the 737 Max and move to a new design, they’d have had the time and the public would have eaten the new product up. Instead, they doubled down and are now going to try to have to sell a product that many will refuse to ever fly on, myself included.

It would have been a great time for pilots to be training on the the 737 Max as a different aircraft. The mistake with the 737 Max is that it is a simulator for pilots flying like it was a regular 737. The selling point to not have to train the pilots was the big mistake with the design.

Re: Boeing's upgraded 737 Max completes first flight with media onboard

#174
post #88

Why do these articles say so little about how Boeing fixed the problem? People are more likely to fly on these if they know what's different from the ones that crashed.

Patch notes: - bug fixes and general improvements

- updated locales

Re: Boeing's upgraded 737 Max completes first flight with media onboard

#175

In a weird way, having the Max grounded during 2020 turned out to be lucky timing on Boeing's part. The airlines slowdown due to COVID likely gave them some serious breathing room while they got their shit together. Now hopefully they actually did get their shit together.

Covid’s timing was devastating for Boeing and the 737 Max.

When the planes were grounded, Boeing kept producing them assuming the issue would be resolved quickly. As of January 2020, slightly before Covid, they had 400 planes built, but not delivered to customers (and so customers haven’t paid for them). Boeing was funding these aircraft with debt.

All of a sudden, demand for air travel drops off a cliff.

All those airlines now decide “I’m just not going to take delivery of those aircraft”. Which also means “I’m not going to pay for them”.

Had the timing gone in the other order, all of those aircraft would have been delivered, and paid for, and airlines would have been holding the bag. (and the covid crisis would have limited the damages airlines could claim, and thus demand from Boeing, if they could meet their reduced schedules with other aircraft).

Re: Boeing's upgraded 737 Max completes first flight with media onboard

#176
post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on what you consider rational. E.g. flying a few hours on the pre-fixes 737 Max would have been more dangerous than driving a few hours in a car. And a cautious person can greatly reduce their risk of death in car driving by being a cautious driver.

Flying is much safer then driving, but that a statement based on real statistics. However, a large number of people have an irrational fear of flying vs driving. That’s the point.

Flying is safer than driving on average. But a lot of bad can hide in averages.

Boeing delivered 387 Max 8 aircraft to their customers before they were grounded in 2019. Two were destroyed, killing everyone aboard. That's half a percent of the aircraft they delivered destroyed within two years. That's obviously much worse that most other aircraft, and far worse than any car currently for sale. You wouldn't buy a car that had a one in 200 chance of killing you and your family before the lease was up, would you?

Re: Boeing's upgraded 737 Max completes first flight with media onboard

#177
post #87

Don’t care. Show me real movement on the corporate mindset. The plane is a STEM engineer fixable issue. The corporate mess that pushed this across flying clearance is not. I’ll aim to fly airbus until Boeing understands that difference and fixes the root cause.

There you go: https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2020-11-06-Boeing-Appoints-Jinn...

I worked with Jinnah before and he is great at shielding the engineers from executive. If hiring great execs is not movement of corporate mindset I don't know what is.

Re: Boeing's upgraded 737 Max completes first flight with media onboard

#178
post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on what you consider rational. E.g. flying a few hours on the pre-fixes 737 Max would have been more dangerous than driving a few hours in a car. And a cautious person can greatly reduce their risk of death in car driving by being a cautious driver.

Flying is much safer then driving, but that a statement based on real statistics. However, a large number of people have an irrational fear of flying vs driving. That’s the point.

The decision isn't about flying in general - it's about flying on a 737 Max, which was multiple orders of magnitude more dangerous than existing aircraft in its class.

Re: Boeing's upgraded 737 Max completes first flight with media onboard

#180
post #87

Don’t care. Show me real movement on the corporate mindset. The plane is a STEM engineer fixable issue. The corporate mess that pushed this across flying clearance is not. I’ll aim to fly airbus until Boeing understands that difference and fixes the root cause.

The thing that angered me the most was Boeing refusing to admit responsibility and fighting the authorities that were grounding the plane. They knew people were dying and were willing to let more people die without remorse. In my mind that was a criminal action.
Post reply on HN