Boeing Plant Plagued by Shoddy Production The aircraft maker's factory in Charleston, South Carolina has long had a culture that valued speed over quality, accordingly to internal emails and whistleblower claims. An investigation suggests Boeing cut corners on safety as it scrambled to crank out jets and catch up to its rival Airbus. New York Times
Boeing 737 MAX joint governmental review will begin April 29: FAA The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said that a joint governmental review of the Boeing 737 MAX will begin on April 29 and will include 9 other aviation regulators from around the world. The FAA formed an international team to review the safety of the aircraft, grounded worldwide following two deadly crashes. (Reuters)
Boeing says 737 MAX grounding will cost $1 billion By Reuters April 24, 2019 | 10:53am | Updated Enlarge Image Getty Images MORE ON: BOEING Trump thinks Boeing should 'rebrand' in wake of recent tragedies American Airlines extends Max-caused cancellations to June 5 Boeing to cut down on 737 MAX production in wake of deadly crashes Initial report says damaged sensor may have doomed Ethiopian Airlines flight Boeing on Wednesday abandoned its 2019 financial outlook, halted share buybacks and announced $1 billion in increased costs due to the grounding of its fastest-selling 737 MAX jet after two fatal plane crashes in five months. The world’s largest planemaker is facing one of the biggest crises in its 103-year history following the disasters on Lion Air in Indonesia on Oct. 29 and another on Ethiopian Airlines on March 10, which together killed all 346 on board. Chicago-based Boeing is now reckoning with a blow to its reputation and the financial cost of getting the planes back in the air. It met sharply lowered Wall Street profit estimates, largely due to stopping deliveries of the 737 MAX jets and a slowdown in production. During a conference call later on Wednesday, investors will look for answers on how Boeing plans to repair its image with the flying public and stem further financial damage. A fuller picture will not emerge until the end of the second quarter as 737 production cuts did not begin until mid-April. Investors will also look for details on how the MAX crisis will hit development of Boeing’s all-new 777X twin-aisle jetliner and a potential new mid-market airplane, which is central to its fight with arch-rival Airbus SE in the lucrative longer-haul market and also expected to lay the industrial foundation for an eventual 737 replacement. Boeing said Wednesday it sped up production of its 787 Dreamliner to 14 aircraft per month from 12 in the first quarter, while the 777X remained on track for flight testing this year with delivery in 2020. Boeing shares rose 1.1 percent in early trading. The crashes caused regulators worldwide to ground the 737 MAX and triggered investigations into the aircraft’s development by federal transportation authorities and the US Department of Justice. Although safety experts have raised some questions over crew performance in both crashes, attention has focused on anti-stall software known as MCAS, which Boeing has acknowledged was a common link in the separate chains of events leading to both crashes. Boeing said it booked unspecified charges related to developing a fix for MCAS and pilot training, and was making steady progress toward certification of the software after completing more than 135 test and production flights. Boeing cut production of the jets following the grounding of the planes to 42 aircraft per month, down from 52, and its operating cash flow in the first quarter was around $350 million lower than a year earlier. The production slowdown cost Boeing $1 billion, the company said, because the lower rate means the planemaker has to pay more for parts, which are priced according to the volume Boeing buys. Reuters reported Tuesday that Boeing told some 737 MAX owners it was targeting US Federal Aviation Administration approval of its software fix as early as the third week of May and the ending of the grounding of the aircraft around mid-July as it resumes building 52 aircraft per month. “The most important issue for the company now is the timing of when deliveries can restart,” Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst Douglas Harned wrote in a note to clients after the results. Boeing said it would be issuing a new financial forecast when it has more clarity around the issues surrounding the 737 MAX. In January, it said it expected full-year revenue of $109.5 billion to $111.5 billion and core earnings per share between $19.90 and $20.10. The company said it repurchased $2.3 billion of its shares in the latest quarter, all of which occurred prior to mid-March. Boeing bought back $9 billion of its stock last year. First-quarter operating cash flow declined to $2.79 billion, from $3.14 billion, missing Wall Street’s average estimate of $2.82 billion. Revenue fell 2 percent to $22.92 billion, below analysts’ average estimate of $22.98 billion. Excluding certain items, Boeing said its core earnings fell to $3.16 per share in the quarter, from $3.64 per share a year earlier. That matched analysts’ average estimate.
BA is too optimistic about the timeline of return to flight. It will likely take longer. As a layperson, I understand that the software fixes involve now asking the two AoA sensors to vote, (instead of relying on just one), and if they disagree the MCAS will be disable. But that defeats the purpose of MCAS: To protect against a stall. What if there is a stall and the MCAS is disable because of sensor reading disagreement? Boeing's answer is the pilot can fly the plane out of a stall. If the pilot can do that then who needs MCAS? What they need to do is follow Airbus and install a third AoA sensor making it triple redundant. If I buy the 737 Max, I would demand that fix.
Boeing Safety The FAA has received four whistleblower hotline submissions regarding Boeing's grounded 737 Max. Boeing employees told the regulator their concerns about "a previously unreported issue involving damage to the wiring of the [plane's] angle of attack sensor by a foreign object," and about the switches that disengage the plane's anti-stall system, which may have been responsible for the crashes of two 737 Max passenger jets. Meanwhile, the WSJ also reports Boeing did not tell carriers before the crashes that it had disabled a safety feature warning about sensor malfunctions. CNN
I would think that once earnings season is over, and the news about pilot and airport error are well know, that Boeing will fly high--
That's just amazing commentary. I mean, how you conflate earnings season and BA's autopilot issues with such ease! And to close on the metaphor!
These planes were being flown out of airports that were on the BA advisory list ahead of the crashes where these were not approved airports for these planes.