New Manufacturing and Quality Process at Boeing
Boeing . . . Door Plugs Will be Harder to Lose
Still explaining why . . .
After a door plug blew out on a Boeing 737 Max 9 this January, the National Transportation Safety Board sprung into action trying to get to the bottom of what happened and why. That inquiry is continuing this week with a series of hearings designed to more fully understand why the door plug blew out. The agency said.
“After the hearing, the NTSB will use the information gathered to complete the investigation, determine probable cause, and make recommendations to improve transportation safety.
Of special concern? Why did the four crucial bolts securing the door plug go missing during the plane’s construction. Plugs are a piece of fuselage that covers up an unused emergency exit..
AB: I was under the impression the door plug disappeared while in flight. They would have to find it first. In any case and typically, Quality Control would have the defective part, etc. Or at least this has been my experience in manufacturing. They have to have the parts around somewhere. Otherwise its loss, just opens up another can of issues on their Quality Control. Boeing used to be a good name. We do not fly in their product anymore.
The blowout hurled Boeing into chaos, tanking its stock price, and prompting its CEO to announce his retirement at the end of the year.
In the first day of hearings on Tuesday, the NTSB spoke to representatives from Boeing, the newly reacquired fuselage supplier Spirit AeroSystems, and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union. The topics? How the 737 Max 9 was assembled, what happened with the door plug blowout, Boeing’s safety and quality management systems, and how the company is overseen by the Federal Aviation Administration.
An executive at Boeing , Elizabeth Lund said the company has implemented updates to its planes since the incident. The updates include an important one that it plans to retrofit to older builds. She adds . . .
“They is working on design changes preventing the plug closing if there is an issue until it is fully secured.”
The hearings will be continuing Wednesday.
“Still will not fly Boeing . . . “
In April 2024 I flew round trip on B737 Max 8/9.
No issues!
I have a lot of exposure to KC 135, from my USAF time. Solid aircraft, designed in the early 1950’s built through the early 1960’s. It is not being replaced by the problematic KC 46 (more B 767’s) for ‘aging’, but USAF wants to have a refueler that can carry cargo. Jack of all trades not a master.
I also have experience with the B707, which is a wider fuselage, more surface area wings for long range flight…. than look alike KC 135.
In the 50’s Boeing did most of the aircraft building!
They have evolved to sub’ing out a lot…. Trend common throughout US manufactures.
In the aviation transport business maintenance and quality of parts are the key. You can weed out manufacturing glitches.
Maintenance, repair and overhaul are coordinated with the manufacturer and controlled by FAA standards…..
Seems Boeing and its suppliers did not get on the various six sigma, TQM, Lean etc band wagons. While FAA may have gotten “easy” on controlling the tech side of transport aviation.
I don’t read accident report these days.
A lot of it was about saving money by getting cheaper labor. Boeing in the Seattle area had an amazing esprit de corps and a lot of seasoned workers. Those workers had a union, so they cost more and were more likely to report problems early. Since corporate management has been all about getting cheaper labor and glossing over problems for the past several decades, they moved a lot of work to non-union areas, outsourced work to get misaligned incentives and fired their best workers to destroy morale.
It worked.
Kaleberg:
True. Then to, management does not walk the floor to see and know what is happening even with their limited knowledge of the process.
A teacher found the plug in his backyard.
The piece of the plane’s fuselage landed not far from his house. “So I’m really glad it landed where it did.”