Boeing finds debris in wing fuel tanks of undelivered 737 MAXs, orders inspections

[brooklynite]

Source: Seattle Times

In the latest of a string of quality control issues, Boeing discovered debris that mechanics left inside the wing fuel tanks of several undelivered 737 MAXs during the aircraft assembly process.

Boeing has ordered inspections of all the undelivered MAXs, about 400 of which are stored at various locations.

Regarding the additional 385 MAXs that were delivered to customers but have been grounded for almost a year and are parked at airfields around the world, company spokesman Bernard Choi said Boeing is recommending inspections for those airplanes that have been in storage for more than a year. “It’s still undecided if we will inspect the rest” of the delivered MAX fleet, he added. “Obviously, we’ll do what’s right for safety.”

Mark Jenks, vice president and general manager of the 737 program and its Renton assembly site, sent all 737 employees a message Tuesday outlining a series of actions to deal with the problem of what’s referred to in the aviation industry as “Foreign Object Debris,” or FOD.

Read more: https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/boeing-finds-debris-in-wing-fuel-tanks-of-parked-737-maxs-orders-all-to-be-inspected/

[truthisfreedom]

1. Crunch.

Tasty! Not.

[MontanaMama]

2. How could Boeing have gotten it so damned wrong?

From top to bottom, this whole thing with the 737 Max has been a shit show. Makes one wonder what else Boeing has going that isn’t good,

[mpcamb]

17. This latest, tho, made me think of sabotage.

It doesn't seem to fit as a consequence of manufacturing.

More like intended action to screw things up.

[democratisphere]

3. Super poor quality control.

Sloppy corporation that doesn't deserve to be in business.

[not fooled]

4. Gee, it's as though

they knew they had nothing to fear from regulators, inspections, the government, etc.

This is the logical end result of giving corporations power over the policeman.

[JudyM]

7. This.

Another reason why we need Elizabeth or Bernie. This.has.to.change.

[Buzz cook]

5. When Boeing took over McDonald Douglas in 97

There followed a series of internal political battles were the former McDonald Douglas leadership took over from the original Boeing leadership. The company moved its head quarters as a result and began expanded out sourcing of major components to their planes.

I don't know where the fuel tanks were made. As far as I know the only component made is Seattle/Everett are the wings. Boeing designs and assembles the planes.

So we have a disassociated leadership half way across the country, a diverse international supply chain with less direct control of production, and employees that are assemblers more than builders.

Pretty much a recipe for fuck ups.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

8. Good explanation...

... they got rid of the experienced plane builders so as to save money on wages.

[Angleae]

10. The fuel tanks are the inside of the wings & center wing box, they aren't seperate.

[Buzz cook]

21. Ok makes sense. nt

.

[AtheistCrusader]

16. IIRC, MD-80's were falling out of the sky on the regular in the 90's.

[Historic NY]

6. Send them to the scrap heap....

who would trust them?

[NurseJackie]

11. Agreed! Could this spell doom for the company? Will they ever be trusted again?

Or is this just a short term setback and devaluation? Will heads continue to roll? Will it change their culture? Or will they just muddle through until it all blows-over and then return to the same as before?

[NurseJackie]

9. This comports with a story that I heard recently on "The Daily".

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/23/podcasts/the-daily/boeing-dreamliner-charleston.html

Audio AND transcript available at the link above.

The Whistle-Blowers at Boeing
Hosted by Michael Barbaro, produced by Clare Toeniskoetter, with help from Luke Vander Ploeg and Eric Krupke, and edited by Marc Georges and Lisa Tobin
Problems at a plane factory in South Carolina led some workers to question whether safety was always the company’s first priority.
Tuesday, April 23rd, 2019

[MontanaMama]

18. Bookmarked.

Thanks for this.

[Roy Rolling]

12. Assembly

Boeing didn’t manufacture the plane, they assembled the parts built elsewhere. No longer do they manufacture and build the aircraft in one place, now they buy pre-fabricated wings, engines, wheels, etc., from others.

And then, when putting it together, they still leave a wrench in an open space or something.

I’m not defending shoddy workmanship, but shouldn’t there be some sort of inspection at Boeing or FAA to detect such flaws?

The FAA allows self-regulation because manufacturers say it’s cheaper for everyone. Well, you get what you pay for—cheap, but ineffective inspections.

[turbinetree]

13. This is a list of the parts that are outsourced by Boeing on the 737

Outsourcing
Many components are not built by Boeing but are outsourced to other manufacturers both in the US and increasingly around the world. This may be either for cost savings in production, specialist development or as an incentive for that country to buy other Boeing products. Here is a list of some of the outsourced components:

Fuselage, engine nacelles and pylons - Spirit AeroSystems (formerly Boeing), Wichita.
Slats and flaps - Spirit AeroSystems (formerly Boeing), Tulsa.
Doors - Vought, Stuart, FL.
Spoilers - Goodrich, Charlotte, NC.
Vertical fin - Xi'an Aircraft Industry, China.
Horizontal stabiliser - Korea Aerospace Industries.
Ailerons - Asian Composites Manufacturing, Malaysia.
Rudder - Bombardier, Belfast and AVIC subsidiary Chengfei Commercial Aircraft (CCAC), China
Tail section (aluminium extrusions for) - Alcoa / Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing, China.
Main landing gear doors - Aerospace Industrial Development Corp, Taiwan.
Inboard Flap - Mitsubishi, Japan.
Elevator - Fuji, Japan.
Winglets - Kawasaki, Japan.
Fwd entry door & Overwing exits - Chengdu Aircraft, China.
Wing-to-body fairing panels and tail cone - BHA Aero Composite Parts Co. Ltd, China.

http://www.b737.org.uk/production.htm

Note:
The wings are made at the Seattle location, this means that the inspection failed and as a former inspector this is outrageous, in manufacturing and commercial aviation.............

[TreadSoftly]

14. Report at link shows FOD is not a new problem for Boeing

From the article cited:

Boeing has had constant trouble with FOD discoveries in the past couple of years, previously on the 767-based KC-46 military tanker built in Everett and on the 787 Dreamliners built in North Charleston, S.C.

“There’s a systemic issue with Boeing’s quality control that hasn’t been corralled yet,” said Hamilton in an interview. “This is not related to the MAX crashes or exclusively a MAX issue. Boeing has these FOD issues on other airplane programs.”

A year ago, Boeing was forced to ground its KC-46 tankers after the Air Force expressed concern about loose tools and bits of debris found in various locations inside the completed airplanes."

But the fuel tank is special. Bad fuel flow in a car or mower vs airplane. Is a gremlin dumping strange objects to fuel tanks in the middle of the night?

[moonseller66]

15. but-but-but think of the money we're saving...

over those over-priced (mostly UNION) American Workers who built with pride!

Great idea by business in the late 70s to farm out parts (and entire items) to foreign countries so business (like Apple, Nike etc) can increase their bottom line, save investors cash and still charge outrageous prices to Americans. Five bucks for a $1000.00 iPhone...two bucks for $200.00 Air Jordan's etc ad infinitum!

And we don't need no stinkin' regulations (mainly because we can't force those countries to do it - costs too much to the investors...they may stop making parts and American Businesses would have to raise prices (/s)!

Yeah, great idea to outsource manufacturing to other countries so business didn't have to pay (mostly Union) Americans higher wages to make sure that until that period, we made the best of almost everything.

Take few million out of petty cash, business. After all, prices haven't gone up that much, right? At least not as much as your profits.

[AtheistCrusader]

20. The build cost of an iPhone is between 40-45% of the retail price.

Parts, Labor, Material Research, R&D, etc.

[BlueIdaho]

19. Good Grief!

They need to put these things in a chipper shredder and start over.