Re the accident aircraft being old, that tends to discount manufacturing issues: the aircraft would have been through at least one heavy maintenance visit, maybe two, which should have found any loose ends from the factory (unless the HMV was also fumbled). Your “ticking time bombs” is spot on: they are improbable at best.
-- Karl > On Jun 30, 2025, at 9:45 PM, Mike Borfitz via Mifnet > <[email protected]> wrote: > > Geez, a lot of that article is old news. Not to belittle the issues in the > story because it all rings true, the Boeing culture has already been shown to > have problems throughout, and we can only hope that's coming around but even > that won't happen overnight. I tend to agree with the Richard Aboulafia quote > "I really think production problems are more of a short-term concern," he > says. "For the past few years, there's been far greater oversight of 787 > production." He has the connections and even though I'm ex-Boeing I only have > my own experience as an employee plus what I pick up here & there. Specific > to the BBC story, I tend to discount any relevance to the accident. We've all > seen the video, it looks like a loss of thrust for whatever reason, I didn't > see any bits departing the airplane, nothing appears to have broken. So the > article appears to be a story that was looking for a home, using information > that's been around for a few years now. Time to be watchful but let's get > current, please. > > But this has me wondering. The accident airplane is 10+ years old, with > pretty high time & cycles. So, ignoring crew/maintenance/ground handling > errors and assuming there was no structural problem, next I'd look at > systems. So every take-off & every landing, every hour in the air put the > systems to work, doing their thing. Is it possible that a systems quality > escape would lurk for almost 40,000 hours & 7400 cycles? Not likely, but > that's just more reason to discount the story, it just doesn't fit what > (very) little information we have. And I must admit I'm all kinds of curious, > that video really has me wondering. > > The story tries to make the point that there are ticking time bombs out > there, ready to fall from the sky because of quality escapes. In my > experience, quality escapes are frequently found pretty quickly, like the 737 > MAX door plug. The Googlies tell me that was 510 hrs & 154 cycles on that > airplane. Actually seems like a lot, I can imagine that plug moving just a mm > at a time, which gives me the willies. Just to close the loop I'll be REALLY > surprised if a quality escape brought that airplane down, so BBC, thanks for > trying. > > <image.png> > > <image.png> > > One thing is pretty accurate, it's the notion that Airbus was looking at > global hubs for the A380 and Boeing was looking at direct routes for the 787. > > Not sure why they added the Boeing Sonic Cruiser to the story, but it was a > real thing, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Sonic_Cruiser > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Sonic_Cruiser>. I got to be a small > part of that exercise, it was pretty exciting & fun to watch all that brain > power work magic. I always though the front end looked a bit like that Lilo & > Stitch character. > > Mike Borfitz > > <image.png> > > <image.png> >
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Revised: 20250507 You are receiving The Mifnet because you requested to join this list. The Mifnet is largely a labor of love, however the infrastructure isn't exactly cost-free. If you'd care to make a small contribution to the effort, please know that it would be greatly appreciated: https://wardell.us/url/mifbit All posts sent to the list should abide by these policies: 1) List members acknowledge that participation in Mifnet is a privilege--not a right. 2) Posts are always off the record, absent specific permission from the author. 3) The tone of discussions is collegial. 4) Posts are expected to be in reasonably good taste. 5) We discuss ideas and not personalities, and we don't speak ill of other Mifnet members. * The Mifnet WEB SITE is: https://www.mifnet.com/ * To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list at any time please visit: https://lists.mifnet.com/ OR: SEND THIS MESSAGE via email: [email protected]?subject=leave * Send Mifnet mailing list POSTS/SUBMISSIONS to: [email protected] * You may reach the person managing The Mifnet at: [email protected] * Please consider the DIGEST version of The Mifnet, which consolidates all list traffic into 1-3 messages daily. See instructions at: https://lists.mifnet.com/ * Manage your personal Mifnet SUBSCRIPTION at: https://lists.mifnet.com/ * For a list of all available Mifnet commands, SEND THIS MESSAGE via email: [email protected]?subject=help * View The Mifnet LIST POLICIES and PRIVACY POLICY at: https://mifnet.com/index.php/policies * View instructions for Mifnet DELIVERY PROBLEMS at: https://mifnet.com/index.php/delivery-problems * View The Mifnet LIST ARCHIVE at: https://lists.mifnet.com/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/
