Whistleblower 'would not' put family on Boeing 787 jet

2 years ago by BuddyTheBeefalo to c/technology

An engineer has stepped up his criticism of the company's safety practices before appearing at a Senate hearing.
Woozythebear 193 points 2 years ago

Having the public lose trust in the safety of flying is absolutely not something you want to happen. This could have devastating effects and I think enough is enough and the government needs to step in and take over running the airlines. It's too important to leave gold hoarding dragons in charge of it.

path: 0 9465247, hotness: undefined, score: 193, children: 55
BastingChemina 74 points 2 years ago

Boeing is the only company actually trying to reach their net zero target. Once no Boeing plane are flying anymore that's it, no more CO2 emissions

path: 0 9465247 9467312, hotness: undefined, score: 74, children: 0
ProdigalFrog 46 points 2 years ago

Silver lining: less flights booked means less emissions for the environment.

path: 0 9465247 9468950, hotness: undefined, score: 46, children: 20
Kanzar 27 points 2 years ago

Iirc the increase in people driving instead of flying due to 911, lead to more accidents and deaths. :(

path: 0 9465247 9468950 9470448, hotness: undefined, score: 27, children: 9
ripcord 35 points 2 years ago

But more deaths leads to fewer emissions! A bright side!

path: 0 9465247 9468950 9470448 9472026, hotness: undefined, score: 35, children: 1
ggppjj 2 points 2 years ago

Well, it doesn't really contribute to less people that much considering the global birth rate, and also it removes a usable car from service that will at this moment be replaced using materials and processes that are likely not too great and probably loaded with an interface that sucks worse ass and breaks more often. Tricky all around.

path: 0 9465247 9468950 9470448 9472026 9474771, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
ProdigalFrog 9 points 2 years ago

That's not great... I can only hope more people opt for trains instead this time.

path: 0 9465247 9468950 9470448 9472081, hotness: undefined, score: 9, children: 6
BubbleMonkey 10 points 2 years ago

If we had high speed rail, I’d absolutely love to take a train to just go places, but cross country trains in the US take absolutely forever. If you aren’t in a hurry, sure, great option, cheap, but doesn’t really work well for vacations or emergencies or whatever when you have very limited time.

For example, Chicago to Seattle takes 46 hours by train but 30 hours by car. Even with stops for food, gas, and bathroom, even staying somewhere for the night, you aren’t adding 16 hours on.

https://www.amtrak.com/empire-builder-train

We really need to invest more in high speed rail.. like everywhere here. Until then, unfortunately, I doubt people will shift that way overall.

path: 0 9465247 9468950 9470448 9472081 9473714, hotness: undefined, score: 10, children: 5
univers3man 9 points 2 years ago

I think the problem is that this will likely lead to more driving instead of flying.

path: 0 9465247 9468950 9470451, hotness: undefined, score: 9, children: 2
stellargmite 3 points 2 years ago

As someone who lives on an island, lol. But still a good point assuming a North American car centric viewpoint. I’ll be resorting to wind power, jetski, breath stroke, or airbus. Perhaps other options including rail ( yes we have it on Islands too ) may look competitive again.

path: 0 9465247 9468950 9470451 9470738, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 1
lickmygiggle 4 points 2 years ago

They don’t have boats on your island? Sounds like a lack of conviction to me.

Kidding, of course.

path: 0 9465247 9468950 9470451 9470738 9472131, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
Blackout 9 points 2 years ago

Maybe even a return to train travel.

path: 0 9465247 9468950 9470237, hotness: undefined, score: 9, children: 2
ProdigalFrog 6 points 2 years ago

I hope that prompts more funding into Amtrak if people do opt for that!

path: 0 9465247 9468950 9470237 9472095, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 0
Mirshe 2 points 2 years ago

One can seriously hope, and moreover hope that the trains are electrified. We seem to be pathologically afraid of re-electrifying rail in the US.

path: 0 9465247 9468950 9470237 9486202, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
EncryptKeeper 5 points 2 years ago

That’s not a silver lining at all. Jets are actually very fuel efficient compared to driving when they’re full of passengers.

One less plane in the air could potentially mean 300+ more cars on the road. Not a great outcome.

path: 0 9465247 9468950 9471072, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 2
Croquette 0 points 2 years ago

Yeah but one less airplane in the air with 300 people in a train is a lot better. The issue is the infrastructure that's shit in North America.

path: 0 9465247 9468950 9471072 9489377, hotness: undefined, score: 0, children: 1
EncryptKeeper 2 points 2 years ago

We would actually need trains that go all the places people want to go for a better price. That would definitely be cool.

path: 0 9465247 9468950 9471072 9489377 9489783, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
Patches 3 points 2 years ago

Gold lining: Never go home for Holidays

Platinum Lining: Work from Home is even more commonplace, and no more random flights to the office, or on-site.

path: 0 9465247 9468950 9470677, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0
emergencyfood 34 points 2 years ago

Having the public lose trust in the safety of flying is something I absolutely want to happen. This will have devastating effects on carbon emissions, and push more people (and governments) towards trains.

path: 0 9465247 9476268, hotness: undefined, score: 34, children: 8
AnUnusualRelic 8 points 2 years ago

Devastating is a bit of an exaggeration with it being responsible for a whooping 3% (at most) of emissions and arguably helping raise the albedo a bit with their contrails.

So it would help a bit, it wouldn't be a game changer though (except if you live near an airport, sound is another pollution that's often ignored).

path: 0 9465247 9476268 9483801, hotness: undefined, score: 8, children: 0
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA 4 points 2 years ago

I would rather we start using blimos what can we do towards that

path: 0 9465247 9476268 9478634, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 4
kamiheku 10 points 2 years ago

What is that like really fancy long blimps

path: 0 9465247 9476268 9478634 9479074, hotness: undefined, score: 10, children: 3
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA 4 points 2 years ago

y...yeah. That wasn't a typo at all it's a revolutionary idea.

We can even have a nazi punching lounge like in indiana jones

path: 0 9465247 9476268 9478634 9479074 9487683, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 2
dukk 3 points 2 years ago

I mean, I don’t think that’s the way to go about it. Trains don’t take me to my family across the planet in 11 hours. I’d prefer to feel secure when flying there.

path: 0 9465247 9476268 9484808, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 1
emergencyfood 4 points 2 years ago

Airbus will still be (mostly) safe. And I'm more concerned with the number of flights - particularly short flights that can be substituted by trains - than with flying per se. For long-distance travel, we don't have a comparable alternative (yet).

path: 0 9465247 9476268 9484808 9487921, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
sugar_in_your_tea 27 points 2 years ago

Why promote flying? Why not invest heavily in really fast ground transportation? Let's build a bullet train between major hubs so people have a choice. If there's a serious competitor to flying, Boeing will have to improve or they'll lose a ton of business.

If the government takes over airlines or airplane manufacturing, we'll just end up with lots of cronyism.

I say start with LA to SF and LA to LV. The current infra there sucks, and there's a lot of worthwhile stops along the way. Then perhaps upgrade NYC to DC and related lines. It'll be incredibly expensive to roll out, but should be very cheap to run and maintain.

path: 0 9465247 9473291, hotness: undefined, score: 27, children: 10
jkrtn 8 points 2 years ago

Yeah, here we go. Trains are so much more pleasant. If they weren't 10 times as slow I would never fly.

path: 0 9465247 9473291 9473455, hotness: undefined, score: 8, children: 2
Olgratin_Magmatoe 24 points 2 years ago

If they weren’t 10 times as slow I would never fly.

We have the tech for high speed rail, we just refused to build it because of lobbying (bribery), regulatory capture, and forced dependence on cars and planes.

path: 0 9465247 9473291 9473455 9473577, hotness: undefined, score: 24, children: 0
aeharding 5 points 2 years ago

To me at least the speed isn’t a problem. I’d much rather take a 2 day Amtrak (in sleeper) than an 8 hour plane.

The problem is the pricing, and also how much it fluctuates due to the extremely low capacity (one train a day…)

path: 0 9465247 9473291 9473455 9479625, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0
Woozythebear 5 points 2 years ago

You gonna build a bullet train across the ocean?

path: 0 9465247 9473291 9475751, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 6
sugar_in_your_tea 19 points 2 years ago

No, planes are good for that. But there's a ton of domestic travel that could easily be replaced with a decent rail network.

path: 0 9465247 9473291 9475751 9475889, hotness: undefined, score: 19, children: 2
sudo -2 points 2 years ago

Which, given the context that planes are necessary, you continue to ignore the OP:

Having the public lose trust in the safety of flying is absolutely not something you want to happen.

And then your justification for not privatizing is cronyism. So the government contracts for air travel = bad, but the ones for your project are... good??

Your comment was really just a soap box to say air=bad, trains=good. I'm not going to argue trains are bad, but maybe make an honest argument for it.

path: 0 9465247 9473291 9475751 9475889 9476028, hotness: undefined, score: -2, children: 1
Patch 5 points 2 years ago

Yes, it's always going to be unfeasible to cross the Atlantic or Pacific by train.

But the vast, vast majority of air journeys taken every day aren't trans-oceanic ones. Most journeys are between destinations within the Americas or within Eurasia and Africa. There are an awful lot of journeys by plane that could be moved to trains if the infrastructure was right.

path: 0 9465247 9473291 9475751 9488282, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0
Semi_Hemi_Demigod 1 point 2 years ago

Ekranoplan when?

path: 0 9465247 9473291 9475751 9487982, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 1
RememberTheApollo_ 2 points 2 years ago

Ekranobahn.

path: 0 9465247 9473291 9475751 9487982 9488279, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
turkalino 27 points 2 years ago

The government has already stepped in several times. If you’re in the mood to get mad, read up on the results of these interventions. Basically, Boeing was almost forced to deal with actual oversight, but was able to convince the government at the last minute that they could handle the oversight themselves internally (thanks to the wonderful process of lobbying of course)

path: 0 9465247 9472659, hotness: undefined, score: 27, children: 1
Cethin 14 points 2 years ago

The above comment means to nationalize the industry I think. That's what it sounds like to me, and I agree it'd be a good step. In addition to safety, it'd stop them from their bullshit price gouging.

path: 0 9465247 9472659 9473299, hotness: undefined, score: 14, children: 0
0x0 15 points 2 years ago

It's not about trust in flying it's about trust in Boeing. Slight difference.

path: 0 9465247 9483310, hotness: undefined, score: 15, children: 4
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA 9 points 2 years ago

so, it's about trust in half of flying

path: 0 9465247 9483310 9488479, hotness: undefined, score: 9, children: 0
Croquette 7 points 2 years ago

Boeing was being brash until they got caught with their pants down.

You know for sure that shit happens at other manufacturers but they kept it low, and they probably are tightening their QA to not fall to scrutiny.

I hope that this will trigger heavy scrutiny from the different bodies across the world to make sure that this shit doesn't happen anymore, but that hope is naive.

path: 0 9465247 9483310 9485125, hotness: undefined, score: 7, children: 2
Patch 12 points 2 years ago

That seems to be a rather unfair assertion to make. Boeing seems to be unique amongst the big airlines in having these problems; and they're relatively new problems for them too, in the grand scheme of things.

I've never once heard of systemic issues of this sort at Airbus, and it seems lazy to do a "they're all the same!" when this really does seem to be a Boeing problem first and foremost.

path: 0 9465247 9483310 9485125 9488201, hotness: undefined, score: 12, children: 0
0x0 8 points 2 years ago

This happens every time a company focus shifts from building a good product to appeasing the shareholder gods. Capitalism kills.

path: 0 9465247 9483310 9485125 9488494, hotness: undefined, score: 8, children: 0
BreakDecks 11 points 2 years ago

Boeing isn't an airline...

path: 0 9465247 9490694, hotness: undefined, score: 11, children: 0
Burn_The_Right 10 points 2 years ago

The government already heavily subsidizes the "struggling" industry (that somehow still makes outrageous profits). The government really should exercise more control over the industry, given that they (we) pay a very high annual price for it to exist.

path: 0 9465247 9489216, hotness: undefined, score: 10, children: 1
T00l_shed 2 points 2 years ago

They used to... one of carters biggest blunders.

path: 0 9465247 9489216 9495555, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
Frozengyro 5 points 2 years ago

Come on, it only effects like 1/4 of the economy.

path: 0 9465247 9467265, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0
Moreless -4 points 2 years ago
  1. Normal people work on planes
  2. Government takes over
  3. Government hires contractors
  4. Contractors are normal people
  5. Profit
path: 0 9465247 9469183, hotness: undefined, score: -4, children: 0
werefreeatlast -11 points 2 years ago

Welcome to this Boeing 737, thanks to government regulations each seat is fitted with a cop that will feel you up through the flight. If you don't put your phone in airplane mode he or she will shoot you in the back 10 times only. 7 crashes per year is the legal limit and we already had 6 so you are all lucky!

path: 0 9465247 9475076, hotness: undefined, score: -11, children: 0
SkaveRat 92 points 2 years ago

"If it's Boing, I'm not going"

path: 0 9465395, hotness: undefined, score: 92, children: 3
lemann 74 points 2 years ago

Boing

When the plugdoor hinge consultant is asked how to spell Boeing

path: 0 9465395 9465518, hotness: undefined, score: 74, children: 1
kambusha 12 points 2 years ago

Took the "open-door policy" too literally.

path: 0 9465395 9465518 9468344, hotness: undefined, score: 12, children: 0
Carlcarla 3 points 2 years ago

"Boing" is the sound the door makes when hitting the ground.

path: 0 9465395 9479026, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0
foggy 43 points 2 years ago

I'm just waiting for the warcries of WWIII so I can buy Boeing stock as it bottoms out before daddy Warbucks saves them, and hopefully me! 🤞

path: 0 9465609, hotness: undefined, score: 43, children: 9
lurch 20 points 2 years ago
path: 0 9465609 9465808, hotness: undefined, score: 20, children: 7
dependencyinjection 7 points 2 years ago

What is a buy price for you?

path: 0 9465609 9465808 9466204, hotness: undefined, score: 7, children: 4
Tja 18 points 2 years ago

"just a bit lower than right now"

path: 0 9465609 9465808 9466204 9466584, hotness: undefined, score: 18, children: 2
dependencyinjection 6 points 2 years ago

Ah so that’s means if the current share price is at 169, then if we use binary to get some bits, we have 10101001.

If we take away one bit to be a bit lower it gives us 10101000 which is 168. So nearly there.

path: 0 9465609 9465808 9466204 9466584 9466913, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 1
lurch 1 point 2 years ago
path: 0 9465609 9465808 9466204 9479402, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
foggy 5 points 2 years ago

They're down like 50% since December...?

path: 0 9465609 9465808 9466478, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 1
lurch 1 point 2 years ago
path: 0 9465609 9465808 9466478 9479364, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
VirtualOdour 1 point 2 years ago

I'm just hoping fares go down so I can get s cheap holiday. As long as it cradhea on the way home I'm fine with it

path: 0 9465609 9476612, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
someguywithacomputer 21 points 2 years ago

Boeing's hitman:

path: 0 9488164, hotness: undefined, score: 21, children: 0
WhyDoYouPersist 18 points 2 years ago

I've had a lot of trouble searching for a concrete answer to this, but does anyone know what percentage of commercial jets in the US are made by Boeing? I know it's a duopoly between them and Airbus, but to what extent is Boeing's domination?

path: 0 9466059, hotness: undefined, score: 18, children: 6
AlecSadler 12 points 2 years ago

Unsubstantiated guess, but based on a cursory search for flights on Delta, it seems like 90% are Boeing.

path: 0 9466059 9466215, hotness: undefined, score: 12, children: 5
yuri 22 points 2 years ago

2 years old, but should be somewhat indicative. A lot of em seem to be 50/50 Airbus/Boeing (except Southwest, yikes), but anecdotally I’ve flown 4 times and it’s always been a Boeing.

edit: hey don’t downvote the guy I’m replying to. if you follow the steps he did you’ll come to the same conclusion. despite the makeup of their fleet, the majority of flights being offered (at least within the US) are on boeings.

path: 0 9466059 9466215 9466665, hotness: undefined, score: 22, children: 4
towerful 5 points 2 years ago

It makes the most sense for a company to spread their risk amongst as many suppliers as possible if their entire business relies on the performance of those suppliers.

Thinking about it, IT hardware and networking doesn't ever seem to do this. Maybe that's because it's lots of items working together to create a system instead of multiple discrete systems.

path: 0 9466059 9466215 9466665 9468433, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 1
catloaf 17 points 2 years ago

It also makes sense for a company to reduce the number of different makes and models of aircraft so that a pilot can move from one to another without too much retraining, so they can reduce the size of spare parts inventories, service more aircraft at fewer locations, stuff like that.

And using different vendors is absolutely a thing in IT systems: https://www.telcion.com/...

path: 0 9466059 9466215 9466665 9468433 9468834, hotness: undefined, score: 17, children: 0
Buddahriffic 2 points 2 years ago

A guess but maybe the reason it looks like it's mostly boeing is because enough people have started using the services that allow you to search based on plane type that non-boeing planes are filling up which means most space available is on boeing planes.

path: 0 9466059 9466215 9466665 9490113, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA 1 point 2 years ago

There's a website of publicly available info on all the fleets, but you have to search through plane by plane and I ain't got that kind of time

path: 0 9466059 9466215 9466665 9478671, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
Whippygoatcream 8 points 2 years ago

We've got a turd in the punch bowl

path: 0 9482487, hotness: undefined, score: 8, children: 0
TimeSquirrel 4 points 2 years ago
path: 0 9466385, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
technology
technology

@lemmy.world

login for more options
88766
22239
14582

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots


go to feed...