Boeing Troubles - One of the world's largest aerospace manufacturers keeps having problems with their planes.

  • 🐕 I am attempting to get the site runnning as fast as possible. If you are experiencing slow page load times, please report it.
mindlessobserver said:
Starliner delayed from reentry again!


NASA and Boeing are assuring people the crew are definitely "not stranded".

I am having visions of the Captain of that vessel telling his Boeing paymasters there is absolutely no way in hell he is going to order his crew to attempt orbital reentry in their shitbox. Best ending, SpaceX deploying the Falcon 9 to retrieve the Boeing crew is now in play.
Click to expand...
Two astronauts wait to come home as Boeing races to understand spacecraft issues. Here’s what’s at stake (Lite) (archive)
Stay a while, and live leak more.
(Starliner will be the first US-made capsule to parachute to a landing on the ground rather than splash down in the ocean. Boeing hopes that approach will make it easier to recover and refurbish the Starliner after flight.)
Click to expand...
How about you scrap this one.
“The embarrassing backup is that a Crew Dragon would have to go and retrieve the astronauts,” Lembeck said. The spacecraft “could be sent up with two crew members and sent back with four — and that would probably be the way home.”
Click to expand...
The possibility is acknowledged.
 
  • Like
  • Informative
Reactions: Advanced Garbage, spiritofamermaid, byuuWasTaken and 4 others

Boeing delivered just 24 jets in May and year-to-date drop reaches 36%​

Article (A)

Planemaker managed to slightly increase deliveries of the 737 MAX but the pace continues to worsen compared to 2023. Only 4 787-10s were ordered last month


Boeing’s crisis in commercial aviation continued to deepen in May, with lower-than-expected deliveries and poor orders.

The planemaker managed to deliver 24 aircraft last month, the same number as in April, but less than half of the total for May 2023 (when it delivered 50 jets).

Despite this, 19 737 MAX were sent to customers, three more than in April, but 16 less than in the same month of 2023.

9da3ad345215f0b5f6dadf38edee8870.png

The 737 MAX accounts for 77% of deliveries and has accumulated a year-to-date decline of 38%. The 787 widebodies are also not faring well, with just 19 deliveries or 24% of last year.


In percentage terms, however, the biggest drop is in freighters, with only six jets delivered compared to 14 in 2023 (-57%). Only military aircraft derived from civilian models grew, from four to five aircraft.


Amid great scrutiny from aviation authorities, Boeing cannot yet resume a higher rate of production until it can prove that it has corrected the flaws that led to several quality and safety problems.

34f626a0f8996af0b134dd7ae6f31443.png

Poor orders​

Commercial aircraft sales also disappointed, with only one contract closed. Taiwan’s Eva Air has acquired four 787-10 Dreamliners.

Despite this, there is hope for further announcements in the coming months, with the Farnborough Airshow taking place at the end of July.

Boeing shares fell 2.43% on Tuesday following the release of May results.
Click to expand...
 

Attachments

  • 9da3ad345215f0b5f6dadf38edee8870.png
    9da3ad345215f0b5f6dadf38edee8870.png
    707.7 KB · Views: 12
  • 34f626a0f8996af0b134dd7ae6f31443.png
    34f626a0f8996af0b134dd7ae6f31443.png
    555.1 KB · Views: 15
  • Informative
Reactions: clipartfan92, Vecr, Coo Coo Bird and 1 other person
Last edited:
  • Feels
  • Like
  • Optimistic
Reactions: Vecr, Advanced Garbage, spiritofamermaid and 7 others
Google.com said:
Boeing delivered just 24 jets in May and year-to-date drop reaches 36%
Click to expand...
This is impacting airlines too. American isn't getting deliveries so they've stopped hiring new pilots, following United.


American Airlines Just Cancelled All New Pilot Training Through End Of Year As Stock Tanks​

United Airlines paused pilot hiring in March, citing delays of new Boeing aircraft. American already reduced its pilot hiring for 2024 by 40% year-over-year, also citing Boeing issues, pausing new hire classes for the summer and potentially for December as well. This was consistent with guidance the airline had provided at its March investor day.

But now has cancelled all of its new-hire pilot training through end of 2024. They aren’t withdrawing conditional job offers – just telling pilots to wait around until next year. It’s unclear how many will do that.
Click to expand...
Stay at home and eat ze bugs.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: Vecr, spiritofamermaid, N Space and 4 others
Sam Losco said:
God I hope Dragon has to go rescue them. At this point, I'm expecting Starliner to burn up on the way back in.
Click to expand...
It's becoming exponentially more likely by the day:

NASA indefinitely delays return of Starliner to review propulsion data (archive)
In an update released late Friday evening, NASA said it was "adjusting" the date of the Starliner spacecraft's return to Earth from June 26 to an unspecified time in July.
Click to expand...
Indefinite sounds worse than it is, but they are targeting at least beyond July 4th now, to make way for two spacewalks and Independence Day. This prototype, cuz that's what it is, is only rated for 45 days at the ISS. If they aren't confident in it by around July 21, they will need a new ride.
 
  • Informative
  • Like
Reactions: Vecr, spiritofamermaid, Falcos_Commisar and 4 others
  • Optimistic
Reactions: Vecr, spiritofamermaid, byuuWasTaken and 6 others
ISS astronauts take shelter in Boeing Starliner and other return spacecraft after June 26 satellite breakup (archive)

Imagine if a Boeing product was your lifeboat.

NASA, Boeing to Provide Commercial Crew, Space Station Update
Leadership from NASA’s International Space Station and Commercial Crew Programs, as well as Boeing, will participate in a media teleconference at 2 p.m. EDT Friday, June 28.
Click to expand...
It's rumored to be another delay, to mid-July.

Edit: NASA orders more tests on Starliner, but says crew isn’t stranded in space (archive)
The 45-day limit is being thrown out of the airlock, because the bottleneck was the batteries and they are certifying them to be able to work longer than that. Classic case of "the rover was built to last only a month but it lasted 10 years!" that NASA likes to pull.
 
Last edited:
  • Informative
  • Like
Reactions: Glowing In The Streets, Backpack Knight, Vecr and 6 others
mindlessobserver said:
Starliner still at the ISS. The mission has now been extended for up to 90 days, on what was supposed to a test flight of a few days. NASA assures everyone that everything is fine. Its just fine. Why would you think its not fine?

Click to expand...
it's got to be an embarrassment. Nasa showered Boeing with cash and it can barely get it's rust bucket in the sky, while barely giving SpaceX financial support and they have regular missions like clockwork.
 
  • Thunk-Provoking
  • Agree
  • Like
Reactions: Glowing In The Streets, spiritofamermaid, byuuWasTaken and 4 others
Betonhaus said:
it's got to be an embarrassment. Nasa showered Boeing with cash and it can barely get it's rust bucket in the sky, while barely giving SpaceX financial support and they have regular missions like clockwork.
Click to expand...
There was a point in 2019 when Trump's NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine was publicly shaming SpaceX (not Boeing) for not delivering on Commercial Crew, because Musk was doing a Starship presentation the next day:


They delivered in May 2020 (2-man Demo-2), and have launched Crew-8 by now.

Maybe Starliner's current issues aren't that bad and they just want extra time to look at it. On the other hand, "go fever" can get NASA into trouble.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: Backpack Knight, Vecr, spiritofamermaid and 2 others
I bet big money the heat panels and navigation thrusters are compromised. The videos from launch showed bits and pieces falling off of the capsule as it left the atmosphere, while NASA is confirming a helium leak. The bits and pieces could very well be parts of the heat shield, while the helium leak is more indicative of the issue. Pressurized Helium is used to power the attitude control thrusters because it's non flammable and can be fired even during reentry where external surface temperature of the spacecraft is hot enough to make a new star in the sky.

Now there are two concerns. How much fell off the heat shield, and whether or not the attitude control thrusters have enough (or any) helium in them. Either fault could lead to reentry failure. Both of them together absolutely guarantee it.

There is no easy fix either for this either. The ISS cannot manufacture new heat shield plates, or more helium. Both these components will need to be flown up to the space station and installed on the capsule. Which is a fools errand. It will be cheaper to send up SpaceX Dragon with two empty seats, evacuate the Boeing crew and send Starliner on a doomed unmanned reentry.

Or NASA can pay out the nose for an abortive repair job that will cost astronomically more
 
  • Like
  • Agree
  • Thunk-Provoking
Reactions: The Foxtrot, Vecr, not william stenchever and 6 others
Boeing is buying Spirit back: Link

Boeing agrees to acquire Spirit AeroSystems in $8.3 billion strategic reversal​

Boeing has agreed to acquire its largest supplier, Spirit AeroSystems, in a bid to regain its industrial stability 19 years after the aerostructures manufacturer was created through a fraught strategy of divestiture and outsourcing that cost Boeing billions of dollars and far outstripped any benefit it aimed to gain from the breakup.
(etc.)
 
  • Informative
  • Like
Reactions: Backpack Knight, Vecr, spiritofamermaid and 5 others
mindlessobserver said:
There is no easy fix either for this either. The ISS cannot manufacture new heat shield plates, or more helium. Both these components will need to be flown up to the space station and installed on the capsule. Which is a fools errand. It will be cheaper to send up SpaceX Dragon with two empty seats, evacuate the Boeing crew and send Starliner on a doomed unmanned reentry.

Or NASA can pay out the nose for an abortive repair job that will cost astronomically more
Click to expand...
I think they would have said something by now if there was a problem with the heat shield. Helium I can definitely see, and it will only get worse if they keep extending the mission!

A repair job in orbit would be amusing but is not happening. It's Starliner as it is or Crew Dragon for those two. Every day of extension is another day they get to live. :O
 
Last edited:
  • Feels
Reactions: Vecr, spiritofamermaid and byuuWasTaken
mindlessobserver said:
I bet big money the heat panels and navigation thrusters are compromised. The videos from launch showed bits and pieces falling off of the capsule as it left the atmosphere, while NASA is confirming a helium leak. The bits and pieces could very well be parts of the heat shield, while the helium leak is more indicative of the issue. Pressurized Helium is used to power the attitude control thrusters because it's non flammable and can be fired even during reentry where external surface temperature of the spacecraft is hot enough to make a new star in the sky.

Now there are two concerns. How much fell off the heat shield, and whether or not the attitude control thrusters have enough (or any) helium in them. Either fault could lead to reentry failure. Both of them together absolutely guarantee it.

There is no easy fix either for this either. The ISS cannot manufacture new heat shield plates, or more helium. Both these components will need to be flown up to the space station and installed on the capsule. Which is a fools errand. It will be cheaper to send up SpaceX Dragon with two empty seats, evacuate the Boeing crew and send Starliner on a doomed unmanned reentry.

Or NASA can pay out the nose for an abortive repair job that will cost astronomically more
Click to expand...
The service module is where the helium leaks are at not the capsule itself.
 
Boeing pleads guilty. Filings in US Federal Court announce a 246 million dollar fine and an admission to criminal fraud in the production of the 737 max airplane and it's subsequent crashes. Boeing will also submit itself to third party supervision under court administration.


Bring on the civil lawsuits. Hoo boy. I can hear the class action lawyers crying in ecstacy from here.

That said though, Boeing's victims intend to ask the Federal Judge to reject the plea deal and set a date for Jury trial where the corporation will be charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and manslaughter by negligence.

Either way however, Boeing will become a felonious corporation which will make it ineligible to sign contracts with the US government going foreword absent waivers. Under the Federal Aquisition Regulations of the GSA, corporations with a felony conviction in Federal Court are barred from contracting with the United States.
 
Last edited:
  • Informative
  • Like
Reactions: gangster computer god, Coo Coo Bird, Backpack Knight and 19 others
mindlessobserver said:
Boeing pleads guilty. Filings in US Federal Court announce a 246 million dollar fine and an admission to criminal fraud in the production of the 737 max airplane and it's subsequent crashes. Boeing will also submit itself to third party supervision under court administration.


Bring on the civil lawsuits. Hoo boy. I can hear the class action lawyers crying in ecstacy from here.

That said though, Boeing's victims intend to ask the Federal Judge to reject the plea deal and set a date for Jury trial where the corporation will be charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and manslaughter by negligence.

Either way however, Boeing will become a felonious corporation which will make it ineligible to sign contracts with the US government going foreword absent waivers. Under the Federal Aquisition Regulations of the GSA, corporations with a felony conviction in Federal Court are barred from contracting with the United States.
Click to expand...
What happens to the contracts they already have? What if you’re an employee for Boeing? Does that shit show up on a Federal background check?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back