Alaska Airlines CEO: We found 'many' loose bolts on our Max 9 planes

[thewayne]

Raise your hands if you're utterly shocked at this report.

[looks around, doesn't see a lot of hands raised]

The CEO of Alaska made a couple of interesting statements, but the most interesting was that they are reconsidering an order placed with Boeing for 277 MAX10 aircraft, which do not exist yet. Alaska recently purchased Hawaiian Air, which operates Airbus jets, I would imagine that Alaska is considering diversifying their fleet with an additional influx of Airbus. While this would increase their maintenance costs, it would probably help them in the long run.

Alaska is having to cancel approximately 150 flights a day while its MAX9 fleet is grounded, the FAA has not yet announced what it will take to get those jets back in the air.

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/alaska-airlines-found-more-loose-bolts-boeing-737-max-9-ceo-says-rcna135316

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/01/alaska-airlines-says-it-found-many-loose-bolts-on-its-boeing-737-max-9s/


In other news today, a nose wheel on a Boeing 757 fell off. Now, I'm not picking on Boeing on this one because the 757 is a much older jet. The plane was sitting on the ground waiting to taxi, and for reasons unknown, one of the two nose wheels decided it wanted to roll down a hill. There were no injuries to passengers or crew, and no further damage to the aircraft. Everyone deplaned, were put on another flight, and all was well. Large aircraft have two nose wheels, losing one was certainly unusual, but didn't represent a huge danger to the craft.

But there's an interesting note in this article. The travel service Kayak has added a filter that, when you're scheduling air travel, you can EXCLUDE Boeing 737 MAX aircraft! Now that is both useful and a huge PR blow to Boeing.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/24/delta-air-lines-plane-nose-wheel-falls-off


Boeing's problem is they fully embraced Wall Street culture when they merged with McDonnell-Douglas. They started chasing 'shareholder value' rather than its engineering/safety culture that it had before. Now it has the classic 'do more with less' which leads to corners being cut, and we can now clearly see what it's led to.

Airbus, on the other hand, even though it is making planes in the USA, is adhering to European safety standards and isn't seeing problems like this. While their planes aren't 100% perfect, they do something that I think is absolutely brilliant: the cockpit of each Airbus model is almost identical to every other! This minimizes pilot retraining and helps them get certified across types much more quickly. Boeing? Each one is its own beast, requiring its own multi-million dollar simulator and training program, and a lengthy training and certification program for pilots.

Comments

[disneydream06]

Sounds like some heads need to roll at Boeing. :o

I wonder if other services will follow Kayak? :o
Hugs, Jon

[thewayne]

I'd say there's a decent chance other travel planners will follow Kayak.  Time will tell.

[disneydream06]

Now if I could just afford to go some where. :o

[blue_green_dream]

I am afraid of flying. I know it's irrational, but as I like to say, "At least if something goes wrong with my car, I'm not 35,000 feet in the air when it happens."

My new position means I need to fly more often than I used to, and this news is making me even more apprehensive about it. I suppose the best I can do at this point is try to aim for an aisle seat every time I fly.

[thewayne]

I'm sorry you have this issue.  If you have the option to book your own flights, book through Kayak and go for non-Boeing aircraft.  Or at least avoid their 737MAX series.  Normally I only fly once a year, a two-leg flight from El Paso to DC and back, and that tends to be an Embracer(?) for the El Paso to Dallas and an Airbus for the DFW to DC run.  I think the last time I was on a Boeing was the one time I had to fly Southwest from DC to Austin, I think it was, as Southwest flies almost exclusively 737s.  It was a horrible flight as I was stuck next to a kid who flew with a cat - in the back row of the aircraft, and the cat peed in its carrier! sigh

[silveradept]

These are the kinds of things that should have been caught before the planes were delivered, but better they're caught now before they cause greater problems.