Can Boeing and the 737 survive?

[jb747]

I saw a Bloomberg story on the Max they said it needed a complete redesign, the old body it was based on doesn’t work for those configurations. Boeing promised that pilots would not be required to be re-trained. Interesting. It’s a managment failure. Boeing went from being a competant engineering company focused a great product to being driven by share buyback schemes and artificial factors which create the illusion of wealth (no substitutes for hard work and a great product.

The airlines, in particular Southwest, were quite complicit in the 737s development stasis.

Basically the wing is too close to the ground to logically fit the NEO/MAX style of engine. Fixing the undercarriage would be one solution, but that is such a major change that you’d effectively end up with a new wing. May as well do a new aircraft.

Boeing has done decent coughpits. Their first digital jets were the 757/767 and they were not a bad effort. The 747-400 was a big improvement, and the 777 was just a tweak on that. 787 is still based on the 777, but using large screens instead of multiples. The Max tries to merge 787 and late 60’s analogue. Why? They could have broken this silly chain at any point and had almost common coughpits.

FBW allows makers to artificially include, or exclude, various features that would be impossible in an earlier aircraft. Whilst the FBW airliners don‘t take reduced stability to the extreme, they do allow for reductions in overall drag by reducing the trim drag. Airbus’s aircraft are totally FBW. The 380 had six identical computers, any one of which was capable of operating the aircraft in its normal modes (though they were actually split up for redundancy). There was actually a seventh, which gave limited control. The MAX attempted to get away with a single channel.

It’s the aeronautical equivalent of Holden taking an EH, sticking a Ferrari V12 in it, and a modern paint job, but not changing anything else. And then trying to sell it as the equal of a nice new Lamborghini.

 

[jenib]

The news for Boeing and the max is certainly not getting any better:

United Cancels More Than Half Its Boeing 737 Max Orders

Airline cites dwindling travel and financial impact

www.travelpulse.com

This won't help them either

Seattle Times wins Pulitzer Prize for Boeing 737 MAX coverage

The Seattle Times has been awarded a 2020 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for its yearlong coverage of the two deadly crashes of Boeing’s 737 MAX jet. This is the newspaper's 11th Pulitzer Prize.

www.seattletimes.com

 

[drron]

Boeing though looking a lot stronger today after raising $25 billion so not needing Government money.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/30/boeing-raises-25-billion-massive-bond-sale-turns-down-bailout-funds/

 

[Sprucegoose]

Boeing have healthy defence and space businesses.

Good time to scrap the Max and pay out compensation (what loss - you're not flying).

It seems from my untrained eye the program is flawed and the plane is above it's limit. Air travel will be slow to rebound as we do everything on Zoom and getting used to a slower pace of life.