BS: Boeing Boing Gone

Subject: RE: BS: Boeing Boing Gone
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 17 Mar 19 - 02:40 PM

Alaska Airlines was my go-to transport between Seattle & San Francisco, back in the day. I totally second what Robo said. I took a small harp (without a case, for some reason) on there once. The crew never even blinked (I suppose they'd seen everything by that time), just showed me a nifty little stow-hole behind the last row of seats where it fitted perfectly.

Subject: RE: BS: Boeing Boing Gone
From: Mrrzy
Date: 17 Mar 19 - 01:57 PM

Hey, you pilots, would turning the autopilot off help, or was it not yet on?

Subject: RE: BS: Boeing Boing Gone
From: Mrrzy
Date: 16 Mar 19 - 10:42 AM

I remember Aloha Airlines. That copilot had ice in her veins. Great piloting, getting that plane down.

The nose of this latest flight was set on Dive, I read.

Subject: RE: BS: Boeing Boing Gone
From: JennieG
Date: 16 Mar 19 - 12:44 AM

Anyone else remember a song - could be from the 60s? or early 70s - sung by Roger Miller "Boeing Boeing"? "Going, going, skywardly heavenly"......

I could google it, but I'm feeling lazy.

Subject: RE: BS: BOEING BOING GONE
From: robomatic
Date: 14 Mar 19 - 08:51 PM

Joe:

Very cool:

Some 737-200 memories: The jets, to supply the (Alaska) interior with goods and people, had a cargo section up front; a bulkhead in the middle behind which passengers sat in the rear. Out on the engines were solid metal pipe-like channels mounted from the lower lip of the jet engine intakes. They were about an inch and a half in diameter and three feet long. They fed pressurized air from the engine compressors to a downward spray of air to keep pebbles and loose gravel from getting sucked into the engines on the unimproved strips at St. Mary's and Aniak.

I was in the back passenger sections of one of these shortly after the unhappy* incident where a 737 in Hawaii had lost not just cabin pressure but a substantial piece of cabin roof. As we were taxiing out the young male attendant was briefing us on the seatbelts and emergency oxygen and some wiseacre asked "what do we do when the roof comes off?" and the kid immediately stuck out a foot and said: "Velcro sneakers!"



*The attendant had been sucked out of the plane and lost, the belted passengers all survived.

Subject: RE: BS: BOEING BOING GONE
From: Donuel
Date: 14 Mar 19 - 04:01 PM

its just a software and firmware problem.
FOR THE LAST 6 MONTHS!      that they knew about.
If they let the cat out of the bag, then they would have had to pay for new training world wide

they tried to save a $$$

Subject: RE: BS: BOEING BOING GONE
From: Mrrzy
Date: 14 Mar 19 - 02:51 PM

Remember Airbus' maiden flight?

Subject: RE: BS: BOEING BOING GONE
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Mar 19 - 02:37 PM

Hi, Robomatic,

I like your reference to the 737-200, which carried parcels, livestock, and passengers all over Alaska. I think it was the last passenger aircraft built with hydraulic controls. Later planes have been "fly-by-wire." Back in about 2002, I got a ride out of Palmer in a small plane with a friend of a friend, Alaska Airlines Capt. Rex Gray, who flew a 737-200 "mud hen" in the state for 35 years.

Rex also tried his hand at radio. Here's his Alaska Public Radio tribute on the retirement of the 737-200:

http://podcast.mktw.net/wsj/audio/20070410/pod-wsjakradio1/pod-wsjakradio1.mp3

Wikipedia says the 737 has been continuously manufactured since 1967. It is the best-selling jetliner in history, with over 10,000 aircraft produced.

My stepson was about 11 when we flew with Rex, and Rex let him take the controls. The following Christmas, my stepson got a present from Rex - some flight charts and a pilot's log, with two hours logged for that first flight. My stepson is now 29 and has logged hundreds of hours of flight. He's now a flight instructor, building up hours so he can become an airline pilot.

-Joe-

Subject: BS: BOEING BOING GONE
From: robomatic
Date: 14 Mar 19 - 01:45 PM

I heard Donald Trump say something right, and that was that Boeing 737 MAX 8s got to be grounded. I was surprised and disappointed that the NTSB hadn't already done it and I supposed it was because the President had told them not to.

The loss of one brand new aircraft due to designed-in-control behavior is already really really bad. That this happens again is horrific. This is not the first time that Boeing has screwed up big-time with their aircraft, but it is a sign of something rotten.

I hasten to add that in general I have a very positive feeling about Boeing aircraft. Alaska Airlines flies only 737s and they are the most iconic civilian transport aircraft of this period. They are quite simply the DC3s of the jet age. Deservedly so.

I expect more of the manufacturer, Boeing.

I have not forgotten the recent crash of a Boeing 767 which augured in just when it was expected to land. This crash got less publicity than it deserved because it was a cargo plane. Although it is unlikely to be caused by the same thing, I am paying attention to the news on the investigation in case it turns out that software was involved.

Now, stuff like this has happened to very good aircraft in the past. DC3s had some stupid accidents when they were new. The 727 had some as well. But I am afraid that in this case Boeing executives and maybe engineers took some short cuts they should not have.

Their products are still the best out there, but these accidents should not have happened.