jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Poor Boeing just can't catch a break.

EdJ0307 Loc: out west someplace

Right. Back in the 1940s how many Boeing B17s crashed and burned?

RCJets Loc: Virginia

The ones that were shot down!

BebuLamar

About 4700 of them but they were shot down. Not because they were built badly and as I understand many companies built the B17 not only Boeing.

NickGee Loc: Pacific Northwest

Back in the day, Boeing was run by engineers. Today it's bean counters. And it shows.

Morry Loc: Palm Springs, CA

I am truly sorry to read all the negative press about Boeing in recent years. Have spent most of my life in Seattle (63 years) and do remember when Seattle was known as a "one horse town" as far as employment was concerned.

home brewer Loc: Fort Wayne, Indiana

So far I can not find information about the door plug event that I trust. But it does seem the door plug bolts are not a maintenance item.
I am finding some web articles that say there were cabin pressure issues on 3 previous flights. It is hard to find the truth. I wonder if the bolts failed or the joint just loosened. There is a Netflix article about Boeing that I have not watched. But; then the Wall Street Journal on January 20th had an piece about some 2 Netflix movies about ancient history that are very short on facts. In today's internet and pour fact checking anyone can write an article that may or not be factual.

Good bolt joint design is not hard; all the engineer need to know is environment that bolt needs to work in. At one place I worked few mechanical engineers other than I evaluated their designs; for clamp load, bolt stretch, bolt strain and stress and bolt thread pull out margin. Peer review only works if the peers have the knowledge required. Vibration and shock loads play havoc on bolted joints as does varying forces.

I had one mechanical engineer friend that quit a company because he was told to lie about design issues by a VP. Cost overruns do drive decisions

Some auto engines are notorious for head gasket failures a sign of poor bolted joint design. I had a motorcycle that a mechanic suggested retorquing head bolts every year. Once the design is released on the buying public it is expensive to fix.

Back when I designed fuzes for military ordnance; the company had inspectors for every assemble step; and there were government inspectors. Some said that we could not ship the protect until the paperwork exceed the weight of the item. A company can design a reliable product if it is willing to spend the money and have engineers that know and tell the truth and decisions makers listen.

At another company I at worked 15 years ago I found the new mechanical engineers relied too much on flawed finite element models and had never done simple calculation using classical evaluations.

As others said Boeing seems to have a design process and assembly issue in the 737-9 Max.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Unfortunately, that's true. After the M-D merger, the emphasis switched from making planes to making money, and they were very successful at doing that. Investors made millions as quality declined. Now, they're trying to clean up the mess.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Watch blancolirio and Flight Safety Detectives. They know what they're talking about.

https://www.youtube.com/@blancolirio
https://www.youtube.com/@FlightSafetyDetectives

Over the years, Boeing has eliminated many inspectors. They produced nothing, yet they had to be paid. They have begun hiring more.

fourlocks Loc: Londonderry, NH

Amen! Thanks to poor design and construction, Boeing's Starliner spacecraft is $1.8 billion over budget, years behind schedule and has yet to carry a human even a few feet off the ground. I sure hope that craft's door panel doesn't blow out when its passengers are somewhere between the earth and the moon.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

They foolishly signed a contract with a fixed pricet. They have to eat any cost overruns.

fantom Loc: Colorado

That's fake. Seats are never that far apart on today's airliners.

Also, Boeing would never have wrenches drop down from the compartments. Instead they would have business cards with a number to call or email to order one so that they could enjoy the revenue from the sale.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Since the wrenches would then be considered "used," I think Boeing would add the (inflated) cost of the wrench to the passengers' methods of payment. Afterall, they can't afford to be giving tools away.

fantom Loc: Colorado

lenben Loc: Seattle

What has happened to Boeing is upper management which used to be engineers and scientists, has been taken over by MBA's. These guys know nothing of science and technology; are money obsessed; and have rattled the culture of excellence that Boeing used to have. It is a tragedy and they have diminished the former excellence of the company. MBA's are expert at ruining companies (Boeing is not the first) as they think they know everything but in fact are just glorified accountants with no other skills.They should all be fired (from all companies). Think of who started most of the major companies in this country - never an MBA - and who runs them well- never an MBA !!!!!