Apparently Boing had a much better reputation before it was merged with McDonnell Douglass.
On the other hand, Airbus was known for its fly by wire control systems, while Boeing mechanically linked the yokes to the control surfaces. The 737-Max project was an attempt to retrofit larger more efficient engines to the tried and tested 737 platform. If the new, mismanaged Boeing had done things properly, the 737 successor would almost certainly have been a fly by wire aircraft–like the 777 and 787.
so in that alternate reality, would “If it’s not Boeing, I’m not going” have had any reason to exist? I suppose it would be like modern NASCAR, where the differences between the GMs and Fords were strictly cosmetic.
In the cabin, the flight attendants’ immediate focus was on the five unaccompanied minors in their care and the three infants being carried on their parents’ laps.
We had a two-stage flight with a toddler and infant, long ago. On the 12 hour first stage, the baby was in a bassinet secured on a central wall and clipped closed to his chin. We knew that the second airline was going to do the “just hang onto the baby and hope your arms are strong enough” thing. We expressed our concerns when deplaning, and the flight attendant from the first flight handed us one of their infant seat belts, the kind that clip to your own, and told us to take it with us.
The baby, by the way, got the best sleep of his life on that first flight, rocked gently in the bassinet to the brown-noise rumble of the airplane. We joked about building him a flight simulator when we got home.
This “hang on tight to your kid” thing is IMO negligent.
The economic argument in the Wiki article makes no sense when you consider the lap belt you describe. We’ve used one, and our wriggly active baby was comfy with it. It didn’t require an extra seat - it required a couple extra loops of seatbelt webbing.
David Olive’s business column in today Toronto Star had an alarming detail…
“We’re gonna approach this — No. 1 — acknowledging our mistake,” Boeing CEO David Calhoun said a few days after the incident in an address to employees at Boeing’s 737 plant in Renton, Wash.
Calhoun did not say what the mistake was.
National Transportation Safety Board inspectors have said the four bolts that hold the exit door in place are missing. The inspectors have not yet determined whether the bolts were even installed.
It looks like the “mistake” was failing to bolt the door plug onto the plane.
If bolts were installed there would be tell-tale signs. Areas of compression, helical wear marks, chipped or missing paint/primer.
If bolts were present but came loose they wouldn’t go all at once. As the bolts seperated one by one it would affect the aerodynamic forces acted on the door plug. At the final moment of plug seperation I’d expect to see evidence of a tearing separation, such as bolts being wrenched from their mounts, or the mounts themselves tearing. Hard to say from the available photos
ETA: I dont see any signs of tearing here. Looks like a very clean separation
So, a bit more like that Aloha Airlines accident in the late 80’s?
I agree with your observations, that photo is damning IMO. That the NTSB is even permitting the chatter to go unchallenged tells me they are quite confident in the conclusion.
Star had an alarming detail…
