Boeing’s reputation has slid dramatically and is indicative of profits over safety, though they don’t seem to understand the effect of quality control on profits. Space is still the Final Frontier on many levels. Human achievements in physics and in space are incredible and have given us the micro computer world we enjoy today. Let’s hope we won’t use it purely as a profit center and our scientific quest for knowledge will continue for its own benefit.
As I understand it, when Boeing designed and built the 787 Dreamliner, they changed their project management methodology radically. They put more emphasis on doing it quickly and less on excellence. (As you said, this was to boost profitability and has been at the expense of quality.) We could all see the result in the electrical problems and fires on early Dreamliner flights.
But they carried on with the new methodology. They needed a more fuel efficient aircraft around the size of the 737 to compete with such companies as Airbus. They took the shortest possible route, which was to put engines onto the 737 airframe that are physically too large for the aircraft to handle properly instead of going to the time, effort and expense to design a new aircraft suited to the engines. Then they tried to compensate with software and didn't make it clear to pilots what they had done. We all know what a literally fatal mistake the 737 MAX has been. (They're still manufacturing it, but give it new labels where possible in the hope that passengers won't realize that's what it is.)
I've flown on a Dreamliner once, after most of its problems settled down. I avoid the 737 MAX. For that matter, I try not to fly airlines that use Boeing aircraft at all any more, wary of having a 737 MAX substituted for the aircraft I book a reservation on. A cheap ticket isn't worth my life.
It looks like their new project management methodology affects the Starliner spacecraft. Outer space is unforgiving. To say that I am disappointed in Boeing would be an understatement.
We get so much down here from what we learn in outer space, we don't need to try to exploit it like a coal mine. But I'm not sure we as a species are smart enough to pass up that temptation. We'll see.
Boeing’s reputation has slid dramatically and is indicative of profits over safety, though they don’t seem to understand the effect of quality control on profits. Space is still the Final Frontier on many levels. Human achievements in physics and in space are incredible and have given us the micro computer world we enjoy today. Let’s hope we won’t use it purely as a profit center and our scientific quest for knowledge will continue for its own benefit.
Sing it, sister!
As I understand it, when Boeing designed and built the 787 Dreamliner, they changed their project management methodology radically. They put more emphasis on doing it quickly and less on excellence. (As you said, this was to boost profitability and has been at the expense of quality.) We could all see the result in the electrical problems and fires on early Dreamliner flights.
But they carried on with the new methodology. They needed a more fuel efficient aircraft around the size of the 737 to compete with such companies as Airbus. They took the shortest possible route, which was to put engines onto the 737 airframe that are physically too large for the aircraft to handle properly instead of going to the time, effort and expense to design a new aircraft suited to the engines. Then they tried to compensate with software and didn't make it clear to pilots what they had done. We all know what a literally fatal mistake the 737 MAX has been. (They're still manufacturing it, but give it new labels where possible in the hope that passengers won't realize that's what it is.)
I've flown on a Dreamliner once, after most of its problems settled down. I avoid the 737 MAX. For that matter, I try not to fly airlines that use Boeing aircraft at all any more, wary of having a 737 MAX substituted for the aircraft I book a reservation on. A cheap ticket isn't worth my life.
It looks like their new project management methodology affects the Starliner spacecraft. Outer space is unforgiving. To say that I am disappointed in Boeing would be an understatement.
We get so much down here from what we learn in outer space, we don't need to try to exploit it like a coal mine. But I'm not sure we as a species are smart enough to pass up that temptation. We'll see.