One of the Dreamliners That Gave a Boeing Manager Nightmares Just Crashed

[justaprogressive]

For 15 years now, engineers and quality control specialists have implored regulators, journalists and airlines to take a closer look at the 787 Dreamliner, Boeing’s first and only clean-sheet commercial airplane designed from scratch since the company’s horrific 1997 merger with McDonnell Douglas. The smooth surface of the lightweight composite fibers used to construct the airframe can conceal deadly structural flaws, they warned. The non-union workforce that manufactures the jets in South Carolina is unqualified to stand up to “good old boy” bosses constantly pressuring them to ignore obvious nonconformities, install malfunctioning parts and cut every corner imaginable to get planes out the door, they asserted. Unsavory subcontractors have exploited Boeing’s lax standards to litter the assembly line with fake parts, they demonstrated.

But until today, the contrarians could always demand to know: if the Dreamliner is so unsafe, why hasn’t it ever crashed?

The late John Barnett, who died last March in an apparent suicide two days into a three-day deposition stemming from the insane practices he witnessed and tried vainly to stop as a quality manager at the Dreamliner’s final assembly plant in Charleston, South Carolina, had a ready answer for this question: Just wait a bit. Most planes aren’t designed to dive nosefirst into the ground like the 737 Max. It generally takes, he’d say with audible sadness, ten or twelve years for assembly-line sloppiness to culminate in a plane crash. (Barnett personally drove everywhere in the orange truck in which he died.)

It’s too early to know exactly what caused the bizarre crash of Air India 171 in Ahmedabad, a western India city of 5.6 million people, just seconds into what was supposed to be a 10-hour flight to London. The pilot reportedly cried “engine failure” in a mayday call to air traffic controllers seconds before the crash into a guest house for doctors, and footage of the plane, which slowly sank with its nose upturned in takeoff position, suggests a sudden loss of power. The 787 Dreamliner has been plagued by engine problems partially caused by the abundance of so-called “foreign object debris” Boeing assembly line workers chronically leave on aircraft components in their haste to move to the next task.

https://prospect.org/economy/2025-06-12-dreamliner-gave-boeing-manager-nightmares-just-crashed-air-india/

[littlemissmartypants]

1. Wow.

[enigmania]

2. Beancounters in charge.

[Kid Berwyn]

3. Whistleblower Died by Apparent Suicide

'If anything happens to me, it’s not suicide,’ friend of dead Boeing whistleblower says he told her

Story by Elizabeth Blackstock
Jalopnik, March 15, 2024

John Barnett, 62, was in the process of testifying against the Boeing Company regarding the aircraft manufacturer’s manufacturing processes when he was found dead in South Carolina with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Now, though, a family friend of Barnett’s says that, before he died, he warned her that if he were found dead, it would not be the result of a suicide.

Jennifer, who did not share her surname, spoke to local ABC news affiliate WPDE about a concerning conversation she says she had with Barnett. She alleges that Barnett came by to visit her when she needed help, and they began to speak about his upcoming deposition in Charleston, South Carolina.

“He wasn’t concerned about safety because I asked him,” Jennifer told WPDE. “I said, ‘Aren’t you scared?’ And he said, ‘No, I ain’t scared, but if anything happens to me, it’s not suicide.’”

Barnett was staying in a Holiday Inn in Charleston ahead of his deposition; when his lawyers were unable to contact Barnett, they called in a wellness check, according to police reports obtained by the New York Post. A hotel staff member found Barnett’s body in his pickup truck; he was holding a silver pistol in his hand and appeared to have died from a single gunshot wound to the head.

Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/if-anything-happens-to-me-it-s-not-suicide-friend-of-dead-boeing-whistleblower-says-he-told-her/ar-BB1jXJIC?ocid=BingHp01&cvid=5b5de7a743f248439b26cd432b25dec8&ei=11

DU OP: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218779942

[EYESORE 9001]

4. That shitty Quality Manager has untold blood on his hands

I’ve spent a good portion of my professional career in or closely associated with Quality. One cannot serve both customer and employer, and with an attitude like mine, it’s not surprising to me that I haven’t risen in corporate hierarchy farther than I have. At least I could fall asleep with a clear conscience, secure in the knowledge that no one would succeed in transforming me into an obedient corporate toady. And that I hadn’t authorized release of nonconforming products - especially in aerospace. Sheesh!

[IrishBubbaLiberal]

5. Corruption, Cutting Corners, non-Union Workers, Unsavory subcontractors, structural flaws lightweight composite fibe

One of the Dreamliners That Gave a Boeing Manager Nightmares Just Crashed -

Corruption,
Cutting Corners,
non-Union Workers,
Unsavory subcontractors,
structural flaws lightweight composite fibers

[benpollard]

6. The Dreamliner that crashed lost thrust for some reason...

[Grins]

7. This is a hit piece.

The 787 Dreamliner has a great safety record. That aircraft, launched 14 years ago, carried its billionth passenger last month.

"Most planes aren’t designed to dive nosefirst into the ground like the 737 Max."
But this was a Boeing 787; not a 737. So references to the 737 are just smoke.

"The pilot reportedly cried “engine failure” in a mayday call to air traffic controllers seconds before the crash..."
So, it was the engine (if it is the engine); not the airplane.
Boeing does not make engines.

As a general aviation pilot, and like many of you, I saw the video clip of the plane on departure, descending like a fat goose coming in for a landing on a pond.

And my first thought: "Why is the gear still down???" A drag on speed and lift.

Then later I see - the flaps were not deployed!
A key before-departure item on the pilot's check list.
I don't know of any heavy aircraft that does not specifically require the deployment of the flaps prior to departure.
Someone fucked up, and it may not be Boeing.

The only honest line in this piece: "It’s too early to know exactly what caused the bizarre crash of Air India 171."

No shit.

[House of Roberts]

8. 'Most planes aren't designed to dive nosefirst into the ground like the 737 Max.'

The 737 Max never dived nosefirst into the ground because of its mechanical design. It was because of a glitch in the PROGRAMMING of the automatic flight software taking over the control and causing it to crash.
This problem COULD be computer related as well. Both engines don't fail simultaneously unless the same flight software suddenly shut them down as if the plane was on the ground and parked. Something got that plane 650 feet in the air THEN failed to continue to work.

[Amishman]

9. Absolutely, article is painfully misleading

The long run design concerns on the 787 are around the carbon fiber construction - this is not one of the areas where the could possibly be a failure in this crash.

The article tries to tie the potential engine failure to manufacturing. This was one of the first 787s built, and those engines have likely been through at least one overhaul. 'Foreign debris' from manufacturing would not still be floating around to somehow cause a problem at this stage.

Pilot error (flaps) or contaminated fuel seem to be the leading possibilities at this point - which are not the plane or manufacturer's fault.

[jmowreader]

11. My thoughts on the "engine failure" comment

If your airplane is descending when it's supposed to be climbing, the first thing that's going to go through your mind is "the engines have stopped working." They've found the Flight Data Recorder, and all the engine performance data is on it. That jet also has a satellite data link that sends performance data directly to General Electric, which GE uses for a lot of things like telling them when to bring you a new engine. (Airliner engines all belong to the engine manufacturer, and the airline leases them. Because the manufacturer still owns the engine, they can keep up with maintenance a lot better than they did when people still bought engines.)

From what I've been told about the 787, Boeing has built safeguards into it that govern when and how much the flaps can retract...so, if you begin your takeoff roll at Flaps 5 and leave the ground you can pull the flap handle all the way back and the plane will decide, based on programmed factors, when to move them to notches 4 through 0.

[msongs]

10. MY INdian friends go back every year. they NEVER FLY an India. based airline

[JI7]

12. That's more likely because of bad service and conditions

not because of safety issues.