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Transportation

Boeing Falsified Records of a New 787 That Leaked Fuel (www.cbc.ca) 90

Long-time Slashdot reader Freshly Exhumed quotes the CBC: Boeing staff falsified records for a 787 jet built for Air Canada which developed a fuel leak ten months into service in 2015. In a statement to CBC News, Boeing said it self-disclosed the problem to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration after Air Canada notified them of the fuel leak.

The records stated that manufacturing work had been completed when it had not.

Boeing said an audit concluded it was an isolated event and "immediate corrective action was initiated for both the Boeing mechanic and the Boeing inspector involved." Boeing is under increasing scrutiny in the U.S. and abroad following two deadly crashes that claimed 346 lives and the global grounding of its 737 Max jets.

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Boeing Falsified Records of a New 787 That Leaked Fuel

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  • by bobby ( 109046 ) on Saturday June 29, 2019 @11:37AM (#58845898)

    Must be a different Boeing. Our Boeing would never falsify records. /s

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Explains the free stick of chewing gum you're provided when you board the flight.

      CAP === 'storks'

  • Time to start (Score:5, Insightful)

    by fredrated ( 639554 ) on Saturday June 29, 2019 @11:37AM (#58845900) Journal

    sending Boeing managers to jail.

    • Re:Time to start (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Freischutz ( 4776131 ) on Saturday June 29, 2019 @11:57AM (#58845976)

      sending Boeing managers to jail.

      Time to send both the politicians and the aviation industry lobbyists they put in charge of the FAA in jail since they are ultimately just as responsible for this as the Boeing executives.

      • Time to send both the politicians and the aviation industry lobbyists they put in charge...

        Yeah, but who put the politicians in charge? I mean, let's not stop in the middle of the stream.

        • Time to send both the politicians and the aviation industry lobbyists they put in charge...

          Yeah, but who put the politicians in charge? I mean, let's not stop in the middle of the stream.

          Well, the entire planet is currently laughing its collective ass off at the people who put the politicians in charge of the FAA for voting the New York village idiot into the White House. Not that this is punishment enough, but it's a good start.

    • Not really (Score:5, Informative)

      by Okian Warrior ( 537106 ) on Saturday June 29, 2019 @01:45PM (#58846442) Homepage Journal

      sending Boeing managers to jail.

      Not really(*).

      It appears on the surface that this was both a mechanic and an inspector not doing their job. If the mechanic said the work was done, and the inspector signed off on the work, then there's no expectation that any managers at any level are responsible. It could just as easily have been an act "on purpose", such as a terrorism attempt or an attempt by a pair of disgruntled employees, and there's no way the process can discover those.

      It only affected one aircraft and Boing, for its part, inspected all their other aircraft and found no problems - it really appears to be an isolated incident caused by two employees out of thousands in the company.

      Put those two people in jail, certainly. Especially the inspector.

      But the managers and officers are not in any way to blame here.

      (*) I wrote safety-certified aircraft software for 15 years.

      • Boeing has form on this - as in was caught pulling falsification stunts with other aircraft (737NGs at Renton _and_ Wichita) and overriding safety inspector "stop work" orders (then sacking the inspectors -and eventually the whistleblowers from the _audit department_ who took it to the FAA and NTSB after being told to shut up and not talk about it.)

        Calling it an "isolated incident" is NewSpeak trying to diminish the seriousness of this case.

        Let's not forget the other recent issues of rotten quality control/

    • by bobby ( 109046 )

      Or just put them on 737 MAXes and let them fly.

      • Or high cycle 737NGs taken up to their certified ceiling

        MAX is more obvious but NG build falsification has already killed at least 11 people (hull breakups that shouldn't have happened during runway overruns) and is likely to kill more.

  • Trump (Score:2, Funny)

    I'm just amazed that this got caught in the Trump-era... Oh wait, Canada.
  • by Grand Facade ( 35180 ) on Saturday June 29, 2019 @12:09PM (#58846016)

    Down the slippery slope.

    Things have digressed to the point of selling a product for as much as possible.
    Yet take every shortcut possible in the name of profit.

    The bean counters and their families should all be on board for test flights!

    • by Bobrick ( 5220289 ) on Saturday June 29, 2019 @12:14PM (#58846030)
      I would blame capitalism but I'd be labelled a troll.
      • by iggymanz ( 596061 ) on Saturday June 29, 2019 @12:40PM (#58846162)

        because communist and socialist countries don't have companies that do the same thing?

        pfffft.

        • by caseih ( 160668 )

          That's completely irrelevant to his point. His was a valid criticism of the worst effects of capitalism, not a claim in any way about communism. Why are you dragging communism into the conversation as if it's the only other alternative?

          Karl Marx wrote a number of very insightful criticisms of capitalism of his day, and made a number of predictions about it, including that Britain would lose their dominant economic position to the United States for much the same reasons that the US is now losing their domin

          • I think the larger point is that the terms capitalism, communism, and socialism represent both concepts and forms of government, and that there is much historical, political and emotional baggage ascribed to each. As such, using the terms in the conceptual sense leads to misunderstanding quite rapidly, as preconceptions and memories of past debates reign.
      • Improperly regulated capitalism would be more apt, I think. Not like communist countries are a model for quality products after all. But humans being humans, if they can think they can get away with shitty behavior, some will try to do so.
      • by HiThere ( 15173 )

        You would also be wrong. This kind of action has a long history in human society. There was once a king who kept a pikestaff next to his throne, and whenever someone brought him bad news, he'd personally kill that messenger.

        Capitalism neither causes nor cures this reaction. It has to do more with the worship of authority, and the desire of authority to see itself as infallible.

      • No, not a troll, just a limited perspective on history. Every socioeconomic philosophy is advanced as a way to improve the plight of mankind, to redress wrongs, to equalize opportunity. Communism for instance was a perfectly high minded theory. But Communism around the world was coopted by megalomaniacal sociopaths. Capitalism is more democratic by nature, but when government and oversight become lazy, corrupt, and disengaged, then the door is open for similarly self serving sociopaths that do not neces

      • It is a troll. How do you think Boeing got to where it is in the first place? DURR HURR MUH CAPITALISM
  • A little drama here, a little theater there... but nothing of consequence... Sounds like just another day at the office.

    We castrate the law by repeatedly reelecting law breakers. Enforcement is impossible when criminals are put in charge.

  • It's painful to say but this needs to happen at Boeing:

    1. Find every executive, manager / director from C-level down to middle management that came from Douglas. Find everyone they trained, identify all policies / training they put in place.

    2. Retire them, get rid of them and their policies by whatever means possible.

    3. Return Boeing to being an engineering-driven company. I know it's been 20+ years since the merger, but it has to be doable, no?

    That's it. It'll be a lot of blood, but so it is when cut

    • Funny kids solution that, in the real world the company would collapse followed by the collapse of most major airlines with un-maintainable inventory.

  • The company is supposed to be regulated but demonstrably is not. Shortcuts and chalk in the bread is the common theme of all these failings. Has capitalism got out of control? The market does not give a shit, they will just buy someone else's aeroplanes.

    • and when all those Aeroflot planes were falling out of the sky was communism out of control?

    • > The company is supposed to be regulated but demonstrably is not. Shortcuts and chalk in the bread is the common theme of all these failings. Has capitalism got out of control? The market does not give a shit, they will just buy someone else's aeroplanes.

      No. Capitalism has not gone out of control. Capitalism is capitalism, it doesn't go out or in control.

      People go out of control.

      And in certain systems, eg. socialism, when things go out of control - the consequences tend to be *far* worse.

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