More Plane Part Problems

Episode Transcript

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We had another incident with an aircraftand this is an ongoing problem. Of

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course, Jay Ratliff i Heeart AviationAnalysts, joins us again for a few
minutes. Morning, my friend,Hey, good morning. We talked what
Jay a couple of months ago afterthe door came off that one, and
that was kind of a big deal. And now I don't know, there
must have been at least half adozen or more of them since then,

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all involving Boeing, right it is. And of course the question that I've
been getting from coast to coast is, Okay, Jay, is this Are
we having more incidents than normal orare we just reporting them more than normal?
And of course I think that thelatter is probably a little bit more
of the case. But I don'twant to dismiss the fact that Boeing has

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real issues here. And one ofthe things that concerns me more than anything
is that is this investigation of theBoeing door plug Boeing off the Alaska Airlines
flight where the bolts and nuts,you know, basically know what we're calling
it unsecured the hardware. The investigationis really being hampered by what I look

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at as Boeing's arrogance, the Departmentof Justice, you have law enforcement officials,
you have congressional members that are askingfor specifics. They want the paperwork
showing who worked on that door.They have video of that type of stuff
when it happens that they can goto. But guess what, they don't

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have any paperwork and the video justdisappeared. They don't have it. And
when I see that kind of stuff, it really concerns me. I tell
you, the thing that worries methe most is that when you hear the
fact that they are more focused onthe production schedule than they are unsafety.
According to the many whistleblowers who usedto work for Boeing that have come forward,

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it reminds me of the Challenger disasterwhen NASA was trying to launch all
those shuttles. So FA asked thatit was and they called it an unsafe
organizational deadline that pushed NASA into whatturned out to be a tragedy. And
my concern is, are we pushingourselves towards the fact that the airline industry
could be headed for a Challenger typedisaster. I certainly think that that's possible,

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because right now it's not on safety. The focus is on how fast
can we produce airplanes? Well,well, a listener made but I think
is a pretty good point the otherday to me Jay, and that is,
don't these people have family members whofly to don't they all fly?
You know, wouldn't they be investedin safety? Well, they would be.
And it's the same thing many yearsago when the Boeing Max was rolled

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out about five years ago, andmany of the engineers and people that worked
on that airplane knew that there wereserious flaws. They knew that the mcast
system, the anti stall system thatwas put on the plane, that Boeing
didn't even bother telling the pilots aboutairlines and hit a lot of the safety
defect from the FAA inspectors. Theyworked for Boeing, and they were pressured

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into, in essence, just kindof towing the company line. Look,
you had a whistleblower. John Barnettwas talking about his time at Boeing where
when they ran out of parts,supervisors for the Dreamliner seven eighty seven sent
the employees to the scrap bin tolook for the best part, you know,
one that had been rejected as opposedto slowing down the production schedule.

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When you see that in ps.John Barnett is the whistleblower that was found
dead with a self inflicted gunshot wounda few days ago. But it's really
annoying to me that this continues tobe the case and Boeing continues to get
away with it. How suspicious areyou of that suicide. I'm suspected the

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timing to be sure, and youknow what happened, We don't know.
But the bottom line is when whistleblowerwho had been with Boeing thirty two years,
said that the oxygen systems on boardthe Dreamliner one in four could fail
because they weren't working properly, andthat kind of stuff is allowed. It
used to be if there was aproblem with an aircraft, the Federal Aviation

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Mistation would step in and say,look, we've got issues. Every single
one of them in the United Statesis grounded immediately until this problem is fixed.
That's not happening on a lot ofthese and they should be. New
York Times notes that mechanics at SpiritAirlines used a hotel keycard to check a
door seal. The FAA also caughtSpirit mechanics using liquid Dawn soap as a

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lubricanty. So the bottom line,I think Jay for kfab Nation and listeners
and flyers everywhere. From you asa professional, what do you tell people
now about flying? Obviously, statisticallyit's still very safe. It is,
and look, look, you know, I've been flying as late and really

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haven't thought anything of it. Ofcourse, Delta is I preferred carrier of
choice. They don't have a BoeingMax aircraft, so I'm okay with that.
They've got plenty of seven thirty sevens, but none of the Maxes.
But there's issues here, and I'mjust amazed at the point where complacency has
set into the point now where justbecause things have been okay, things have
been safe for such a long periodof time, we've cut corners and things

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have still worked out okay, thathuman mindset to just adopt this complacency perspective
is scary. It's dangerous, andagain we're playing with fires. Some we
could have multiple fatalities from that doorblew out on that last airline's flight.
That was the shot that should havewoke us up, and I don't know
that it has. If it wouldhave been higher altitude, probably would have

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just before we run. If thebooking a flight should should end. Would
you recommend individuals look at what kindof aircraft they'll be on. Well you
should know anyways, I mean justlook at it and see. But if
you're on a Boeing Max airplane andyou book something that has airbus, always
that If you're flying Omaha to Dallasand you're connecting Dallas to Portland, the
airplane you're booked on may be anairbus. But if that aircraft has a

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mechanical, the airline might do itwhat we call an equipment swap, where
they say, hey, we've gotthis airplane here, we will put it
in its place to run the flighton time. That replacement aircraft could be
a Boeing Max that you may notwant to fly if that's your So you
really don't know to your at thegate about to step on the airplane what

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kind of aircraft you're going to beon. An airline's been pretty good to
work with passengers to put them onother types of aircraft if that's their choice.
Jay Rattliffe, Always a pleasure,Thanks man,