Boeing news | Boeing 787 wing flaw extends inside plane | Seattle Times Newspaper — Boeing has outsourced this plastic plane all over the world and this is the result of that fine decision. A TWO YEAR DELAY so far.
The wing damage that grounded Boeing’s new composite 787 Dreamliner occurred under less stress than previously reported — and is more extensive.
An engineer familiar with the details said the damage happened when the stress on the wings was well below the load the wings must bear to be federally certified to carry passengers.
Found by Aric Mackey.
The wing is the plane, everything else just hangs on it.
This is not necessarily an outsourcing issue. No one has ever built a commercial airliner with so much composite material. There are bound to be design problems; Boeing is breaking new ground here. To blame all the delays on subcontractors is oversimplification of the issue.
The full article explicitly states that this is not an outsourcing delay, it is a design problem, and that the subcontractors are not liable.
There have been extensive delivery delays by subcontractors, but those “in the know’ place the blame directly on Boeing’s upper management for not doing their job and managing the overall process, not necessarily the subcontractors.
There really is nobody to blame for this fiasco other than Boeing itself, and heads should roll… but those heads will roll smiling because of their 100’s of millions of dollars in golden parachutes payable even if they have been proven to be totally inept at running the company.
Boeing has a poor history of successful composite wings construction. During the Pentagon’s JSF contest between Lockheed and Boeing, Boeing’s team scrapped their original temperamental thermoplastic wing and went with a more conventional composite albeit heavier and less durable.
Is it a design or a manufacturing flaw; or, is it just too hard to reliably manufacture?
Maybe it’s the way the company is being managed, by bean counters looking to cut cost and corners.
At least the FAA is doing it’s part. If the Bush Administration was still in office they would order the FAA to relax it’s certification standards and declare the government is again over regulating Boeing business.
I am not sure I would want to fly in this plane it’s proven safe over the years, especially when it’s maintained by Airline Co. looking to skimp on maintenance and cram as many people in as small a space as possible.
Here we go with the typical “We Americans do it better than anyone else” crap. Airbus has been making composite airplanes for years and you don’t hear about wing tears and stringer rips and crap like that from their side. I’ve worked in the maintenance side of aviation for 8 years and can tell you that working on an Airbus plane was far better than working on a Boing because of accessibility issues and just plain better engineering.
Isn’t it time for both Air Force Ones to be replaced?
#5, just because something is easy to fix doesn’t mean that its safe or engineered better. There are some good engineering schools in Europe for sure…but lots of good ones here in the US too. I have yet to find projects that had improved schedules and better quality by moving work to India or Korea for example.
Outsourcing is a huge problem for more than one reason.
#5 Sorry pal, but the comparison between the amount of composit surface area used on an Airbus..is significantly different than what is currently being created in Seattle. The Aft Section of the Airbus is all Carbon Fibre (tail cone and Vertical stabilizer) however the rest of the aircraft is still mainly metal. Except some moving wing bits. what Boeing is developing is really the next generation and a complete embarkation into a new era. So to compare the 2 is not really right. I will add that I work for an Airline, and we have mostly Airbus Aircraft and a few Boeings, we had mainly Boeings at one point, and the data Proves the Boeings are more Reliable and take less maintenance to keep in the Air. We Currently have B777s and A slew of Air Buses, the Fussy Busses are allot more problematic my friend!!! I can assume you worked on older type of Boeings? I will say that the world is small and we all need to work together, I am really tired of the Boeing/Airbus war.. By the way How many tails have fallen off a Boeing?… Compare that to your Scarebus!!! We have a Bunch of B787 on Order… I gess we’ll have to wait a little longer.. aye.. Wait to see how many issues the A350 will have… I am sure the Boys in Touluse are watching with great ferver. 🙂
#8 Are you fling Airbus or Boeing?
The way you spell Toulouse shows that you must be a Boeing man.
I believe that as soon as an aircraft is more sofisticated, the systems might show more small problems which would let you think that it is less reliable, no.
The Below Link gives a good physical idea of the amount of Composit material used on the Boeing B787 vs the A380 (latest Airbus).. Although the A350 will contain much more carbon Fibre. Enjoy the Info.
http://www.airtech.tc.faa.gov/safety/patterson2.asp
🙂
Toulouse
Sorry Mate… I always spell it wrong… happens every day…
Oh and I said more problematic…not less reliable.. they still get into the Air…
Cheers mate 🙂
I had a college programming professor who will not ride on an Airbus. Period. He worked for them for a while and knows how they cut corners on the software.
I can’t say I know a lot about the quality of Boeing versus Airbus planes themselves, only that I work in the airline industry too, mostly helicopters, and Eurocopter maintenance guys hate Bells, and vice versa. If you specialize in one type of aircraft, you typically hate all the others.
The system works a flaw was found before any planes were delivered and it will be fixed. Delays on projects this big are common.
The 787 is so NEW as a commercial airliner this sort of thing should be expected. If they get it right it will sell very well.
Good luck to Boeing everything will be fine, remember the A380 with short cables and NASA which crashed a robot because of conversion Imperial/Meter.
#11 Blagnac is the real place.
LFBO………..we know…
15R …. so you are flying…
Quality control isn’t everything but in an airplane it comes pretty close. They don’t just coast to a stop when the wings fall off.
What’s next for Boeing ? Paper Planes and Rubber Bands ?
It was a little scary reading the comments on the original story site — the CEO of Boeing has said many times that Boeing is no longer an engineering company. Many posters had stories of highly experienced and capable technical people and even whole departments devalued and shuffled off in favor of “administrators.”
The new American way.
The flawed construction is American, and not from the rest of the world.
I think your all a bunch of wingnutz!
Boing has always provided great planes and I prefere to fly with Singapore airlines.
“Boeing has outsourced this plastic plane all over the world and this is the result of that fine decision. A TWO YEAR DELAY”
Sounds a lot like a Dell/Hp/Compaq Aw hell, just call it a Windows computer
P.S.
Not to mention that it doesn’t work correctly.
Out sourcing all the major components and parts from suppliers from all ovet the world is done in these modern times for several reasons.
It is politically Correct and may generate more sales in unlikely places, in many cases the vender is an expert in his area of knowledge and can produce the items or product cheaper and better than the aircraft manufacturer. Airbus has embarked upon the same method, the A380 has landing Gear and Brakes made in different countries, for example..the Avionics is not all European, the Displays for the Avionics are made engineered and produced in a different country outside the traditional consortium.. its common practice in such a hugely complex feat of designing and building a modern airliner. No One Goes it alone. Boeing has partners in many continents as does Airbus. The A320 is even produced in China today!!! (yes its still assembled in Germany too).
The Boeing Guys will eventually get it right and produce a wonderful aircraft…better they delay now and fix it then send a few out the door with problems and fix it later?… 🙂
I have often wondered why titanium hasn’t been more extensively used in airframes. The cost of composite manufacturing must be on par with titanium mill stock.