Another Boeing 737 Max-8 crash

It is a beautiful area for sure. The Spoon River and Illinois River bluff area is beautiful. I was born and raised just hours from Peoria in Macomb. Peoria was the center of my territory while at Deere&Co. Cat kicked my ass when they introduced their track Challenger. They took deals that I know lost them money just to gain market share and after sales support parts and service. But then our 8000 series tracs came out and I kicked their ass,
I don’t know, it’s just parts of the city have become dirty. I can’t explain it other than this. It’s just become dirty in areas that weren’t before. The sad thing is, this isn’t unique to Peoria. Especially in Illinois.

 

It’s a great sign when a Mexican Airline says,”fuck it, we’re done with this POS(the sukhoi)”

I’d bet the airframes could be bought CHEAP.

 

It wasn't just Peoria. There was a huge Cat plant in York, PA and they were constantly on strike. I'm not sure if their labor agreements were tied to plants nationwide or what, but I couldn't understand why they were seemingly always out front picketing when they were by far the highest paid/best benefits blue collar workers in town. The plant eventually closed and merged with the Peoria plant. A friend of mine's Dad got transfered out there.

 

My dad was a heavy haul truck driver and hauled a ton of stuff out of the Cat plants in Illinois. I’d ride with him in the summer when I was a kid and 30 years later I still vividly remember the Decatur, Aurora, and Peoria plants with the constant strikes and union workers being impossible to deal with. Not to go too off-topic or dungeony but when it comes to union bullshit I’ll never forget the sometimes all-day trips into those massive plants and all the assholes my dad had to deal with, usually people who made more than he did working cake jobs who were never happy with anything.

 

You guys are so right. I remember growing up, mom and dad always saved for the possibility of a strike. Without googling I don’t remember the exact years, but within a 6-10 year period we went on strike two different times, one time was over a year and the other time was about 8 months.

One of the strikes I was in high school, so that was between 78-82.

With my overhead in California, there is no way I could survive no income for that long, but the cost of living is so much less in Illinois we could survive. My parents did get a whopping $100 a week from the UAW strike fund.

I remember my dad wouldn’t cross the picket line and some people did, they were called scabs, and my dad quit being friends with someone who crossed. Glad I don’t have to deal with that kind of drama in my career.

 

Timeframe is about the same as I remember. Early 80s. My Dad worked at a Ford dealer close to Cat and we would drive by and the picketers were out front of the plant with their signs. I remember when I first heard the term scabs also.
They sure showed them. Plant closed and thousands of good paying jobs vanished instantly.
The Harley plant here in town was in danger of making the same mistakes, but cooler heads prevailed.

 

Now they're getting rewired, https://www.seattletimes.com/busine...oeing-will-re-wire-all-the-grounded-737-maxs/

 

Its not like they are going to need them anytime soon.

 

It's going to be the safest plane ever made when all is said and done.

 

Just in time for the airlines to purchase after they’re all flush with the bail out cash.

 

Or to get their fleet out of the desert and backup to airworthiness after this mess is all over .

https://www.businessinsider.com/cor...-wide-bodies-to-the-desert-for-storage-2020-3

 

Southwest just received a couple new ones. Source- friend works for SW

 

That's actually the first article I've read that explains what the "wiring issue" was. A bundle of hundreds of wires also contains a "hot wire" that carries voltage. What a joke. Wonder what the calculated chances of that happening was.

 

I find it kind of insulting that they were calling the factory assembly workers mechanics.

 

Financial issues are the big concern now. Once the "panic" is over, there will be bankrupt airlines, cancelled flights and a general unwillingness to fly for a while.

Following this, China will be picking up the assets of failed airlines and the biggest future market will also be reduced.

 

This sounds ugly....


https://transportation.house.gov/ne...ease-final-committee-report-on-boeing-737-max

 

So the FAA turned a blind eye for Boeing to fast track the 737 into production.

 

I think they don't do a good job of addressing how the system works. The FAA doesn't know how to build airplanes. They are very dependent upon the manufacturer for the technical expertise.

 

Well. This is the same FAA that lowered qualifying skills for ATC in the last decade For affirmative action. I could go on but not going to get political.

 

Again no mention of the airplane that was flying broken for nearly 3 weeks, or the fact that a 300 hour pilot could not execute one of the most basic 3 item emergency checklists in more than 20 minutes of flying. Design was flawed, but that did not cause the crash.