Defective Boeing flight catches fire, hospitalizing 10 victims on board (video)

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/05/09/defective-boeing-flight-catches-fire-hospitalizing-10-victims-on-board-video.html

9 Likes

So… at some point is Boeing going to be held accountable, or are corporations not only "people,’ they’re also allowed to kill/maim actual humans with zero consequences?

:rage:

28 Likes

Is this the plane’s fault or is this the “airline cheaped out on maintenance” fault?

Like, there are airlines that are banned from flying in Europe because their countries’ safety regulations are too lax.

15 Likes

Shhhh… you don’t want to hurt corporations feelings now do you!?! /s

15 Likes

(I fluv opportunities to post this gif.)

27 Likes

Kyle Mooney Snl GIF by Saturday Night Live

13 Likes

Screen Actors Guild GIF by SAG Awards

11 Likes

There’s no evidence any of these are manufacturing defects. The last 737-800 was delivered in 2020, the plane at Dakar came out of Seattle in 1994, and the plane at Istanbul was delivered to Fedex in 2014.

Sadly BB is treating these stories as clickbait.

17 Likes

Odd.

I didn’t say nor even imply otherwise. I asked about accountability/liability.

Isn’t that true for most topics on BB these days, sadly?

10 Likes

Are you saying this is a normal rate of airplane failures, or that there’s some other problem that should be considered? Because it sure seems like something should be responsible for these injuries.

9 Likes

And what did Boeing promote as the serviceable lifespan of those planes? Because there are a hell of a lot of 737-800s in service and Boeing hasn’t issued a recall or notified their customers to discontinue service of the aircraft.

9 Likes

The lifespan of passenger jets is about 35-40 years; if memory serves.

9 Likes

More than likely it’s both. It is seemingly apparent that Boeing to begin with has been cutting corners for a very long time and it’s finally catching up to them now, especially if a given airline isn’t being careful with their maintenance that’s going to show problems with the airplanes more readily

10 Likes

And weirdly Boeing stock is up. :man_shrugging:

Traders getting immune to the seemingly constant reports?

3 Likes

It could be partly due to the Boeing Starliner rocket. Though that launch got delayed, why? Because of (reads notes)… issues

5 Likes

That matches my recollection. But, it leaves maintenance entirely out of the equation.

Without intensive maintenance, an aircraft of this complexity probably isn’t airworthy for more more that single-digit-weeks, if that long. And “intensive” includes everything from fluid servicing up to and including engine replacement. That 35-40 year lifespan is of the airframe alone while some huge portion of the subcomponents and parts gets replaced or thoroughly overhauled on a much shorter cycle.

I’m all for holding Boeing’s feet to the fire, for shit they’re actually responsible for. But this, on a plane this age, seems to be a massive stretch to tie to the (clear, obvious, ongoing) problems in Seattle.

12 Likes

Planes have to go through maintenance at scheduled interviews and its the responsibility of the operator to ensure the work is done to required standards.

There are four main service intervals of increasing intensity. (A, B, C and D). A checks can be done every few weeks which is concerned with things such as lubrication and checking filters. The big ones are the C checks done either every two years or when a certain number of flight hours are accumulated which sees the plane out of action for a while as the structure is investigated and many parts are dismantled for internal investigation. A D check is done roughly every 5 to 10 years and the plane is pretty much taken apart. In between these checks there are any number of components which must be replaced after a period whether or not they are defective.

If you want to be scared about airliner maintenance, there’s a lot of pressure by airlines to outsource C and D checks to companies in developing countries where the staff don’t necessarily have fluency in English. None of that is Boeing or Airbuses responsibility, it falls under the various regulators.

12 Likes

Not having fluency in English doesn’t bother me much at all, but “pressure” (from shareholders, right?) to find ways to cheap-out on maintenance checks bothers me very very much.

7 Likes

It should bother you when the maintenance manuals are in English.

6 Likes

That’s simply not true. While these incidents could be due to poor or lacking maintenance, it’s just as wrong to assume that as it is to assume it’s not. But when one manufacturer has planes experiencing so many issues across multiple designs and multiple generations, it can’t be put off as maintenance alone.

Because of course, translation hasn’t been invented yet in 2024. :roll_eyes:

6 Likes