It's been over 40 years since I flew anywhere and I hated it. It was an original 737 with the engines that body was designed around. My old man asked if I could see the cockpit, I wasn't aware I had wanted to but I suppose it was quite interesting. I remember commenting that I'd seen larger radar displays in small yachts. The pilot laughed, agreed then said they hardly ever looked at it anyway.....
The Boeing 707 fuselage was used for the first seies produced 737 jets.
Seems that they have been using ready parts for a long time.
Many auto companies do that, it is cheaper but also restrictive, the Mahindra Scorpio, for example, used a 105.5 inch wheelbase, with noticeably cramped legroom for the rear seat occupants, the new one is 108.3 inches, much better comfort.
The old one possibly used a chassis from their Bolero truck, easy to do, but nobody seems to have bothered with rear leg room...or they were short statured, so it did not affect them.
I learned to drive on 91" CJ-3B Jeeps, today I find them very harsh in suspension...
No ties to Mahindra...
So, once again I must state that it is time for Boeing to do some new work, or be consigned to oblivion.
Seems that they have been using ready parts for a long time.
Many auto companies do that, it is cheaper but also restrictive, the Mahindra Scorpio, for example, used a 105.5 inch wheelbase, with noticeably cramped legroom for the rear seat occupants, the new one is 108.3 inches, much better comfort.
The old one possibly used a chassis from their Bolero truck, easy to do, but nobody seems to have bothered with rear leg room...or they were short statured, so it did not affect them.
I learned to drive on 91" CJ-3B Jeeps, today I find them very harsh in suspension...
No ties to Mahindra...
So, once again I must state that it is time for Boeing to do some new work, or be consigned to oblivion.
Found on Mastodon social media, a sendup to introduce a news story on Boeing:
Burrito Justice
@burritojustice@mastodon.social
I hate lose bolts
I cannot lie
you other fellas can’t deny
when a plug falls out
from a bulkhead space
with 16K feet in my face
my poor lungs
United finds loose bolts on Boeing jets grounded after blowout incident
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/01/08/boeing-737-max-inspections-begin/
Burrito Justice
@burritojustice@mastodon.social
I hate lose bolts
I cannot lie
you other fellas can’t deny
when a plug falls out
from a bulkhead space
with 16K feet in my face
my poor lungs
United finds loose bolts on Boeing jets grounded after blowout incident
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/01/08/boeing-737-max-inspections-begin/
Resign? No. He'll wait until his (forced) amicable departure from the company at which point he will receive the payout package (his friends on the board agreed to) worth $13526763589. No CEO or president gives a shoot because corporate disaster just means they get a big bag of money and more time at the golf course.
I'm not sure if you heard, but according to the TV news, there were two passengers booked to sit in the two seats immediately adjacent to the plug, but they missed the flight!
Speaking of flight enjoyment, it's a real pity the A380 has gone out of production. In my view this was possibly the pinnacle of passenger aircraft (not counting Concorde I guess). It was significantly quieter, smoother and more comfortable than other aircraft I'd been on, including the 777, making a big difference to the trip - which was fortunate because it was a 35 hour flight from Perth to NYC via Doha. It was tiring, but would have been excruciating on some aircraft...
Fortunately, Emirates have a large fleet so I assume they'll be running them for some time.
Don't count on any contrition from the C-suite.
When I worked, people were made executives and managers because of loyalty. I saw the most inept and clueless people promoted to run offices, departments, and whole companies because of loyalty sooo many times. When a company is bought or merged, all the management is summarily changed. I personally have had bosses that couldn't do my job. They'd choke. Sometimes these bosses hated me for being such a straight arrow. And I hated them for being inept and crooked. Such is the corporate world.
My neighbor was sales manager at a very successful local car dealership. One day he was fired and replaced by the owner's son. The son was a typical lazy do-nothing rich boy. Then the kicker - dad sold the dealership with the stipulation that his son remain as sales manager. Hilarity ensued. The dealership is still in business, but they lost a whole lot of customers. I was a satisfied customer but now they don't treat their customers very well. They didn't even know me the last few times I visited for parts. I was one of the regulars and now I'm persona non grata. That's not my style.
I never had to look for a job my whole life until 2009. Jobs looked for me. Then I couldn't find a job. I didn't know how to look for a job. I didn't know how to answer real questions in a real interview. Every interview I had ever had was "How's Bob doing?" and "What's the earliest you can start? How about next Monday?" type questions. It really sucked being a stranger. But that's how business is, at least in Chicago. You either with the in crowd, or you're not.
Fast Eddie D -
Your 2nd paragraph echoes my experience in the corporate world. Many executives had a history of promotions that were in proportion to the width and depth of their wake of devastation in their prior position.
My theory was that it kept the other executives who hired them from looking like idiots.
My mental imagery of corporate structure evolved into this picture: A huge tree full of monkeys. The ones at the top drop garbage and poop on those below. The ones below look up and see only a$$holes. I shared this viewpoint with a vice president in the company who found it hilarious.
The relevance to this thread: it was (a different) aerospace corporation.
Your 2nd paragraph echoes my experience in the corporate world. Many executives had a history of promotions that were in proportion to the width and depth of their wake of devastation in their prior position.
My theory was that it kept the other executives who hired them from looking like idiots.
My mental imagery of corporate structure evolved into this picture: A huge tree full of monkeys. The ones at the top drop garbage and poop on those below. The ones below look up and see only a$$holes. I shared this viewpoint with a vice president in the company who found it hilarious.
The relevance to this thread: it was (a different) aerospace corporation.
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Thanks for mentioning this. I had the impression that those seats were not routinely available.
Very fortunate for the passengers, and for Boeing.
Contrition? Bahahahahaha! They'll only increase the share buyback program to keep their stock-price-driven bonuses at the same level.
They burned $45 billion by 2020:
https://www.newsweek.com/boeing-air...stoke-controversy-bailout-pleas-least-1493934
They plan on burning $20 billion more:
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/boeing-sets-new-20-billion-buyback-plan-raises-dividend-20-1.1184698
Stock buybacks are cancer, aided by mutagenic Modern Accounting which measures return on equity at the expense of actual corporate value:
https://www.capital-flow-analysis.com/investment-essays/boeing_buyback.html#roe
Note Boeing manglement, instead of taking a bailout which would affect their ability to kite stock prices, instead larded the books with another $25 billion of debt:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremybogaisky/2020/05/01/boeing-25-billion-debt/
Meanwhile:
https://www.seattletimes.com/busine...-least-2-year-wait-on-designing-new-jetliner/
For the mountain of cash the beancounters torched on the altar of Shareholder Value (and executive bonuses) they could have designed at least five new aircraft, leaving Airbus in the dust. Instead they stretched a 50 year old airframe beyond its capacity, with the results we now see: two groundings in five years, one more than the DC-10. Both aircraft were overseen by MBAs, notably James McNerney for the 737Max, and yet his successor, long time Boeing engineer Dennis Muilenberg, took the hit for that airplane because he was CEO during the crashes caused by McNerney's lousy decision. Meanwhile that guy rode off into the sunset, gold in his pocket, blood on his hands.
Watching Mayday: Air Disasters, the number of things they ignore, brush off or take shortcuts is shocking.
Then there is the number of times the copilot was afraid to speak up to the pilot about something, or they didn't communicate clearly with the cabin crew about an issue. And don't get me started on the number of times the NTSB goes "well, its not real likely that it will be a problem for other planes".
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