Non-motoring > More 737 Woes Miscellaneous
Thread Author: zippy Replies: 33

 More 737 Woes - zippy
That old adage: "If it's not a Boeing, I'm not going" seems to warrant a change to "If it's a Boeing, I'm not going"!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-67899564

 More 737 Woes - Bromptonaut
Seems as though a panel where, on some versions of the Max 9 there would be an additional door, blew out at about 16,000 feet.

 More 737 Woes - zippy
Yes, so it seems.

Not good. Could have been a disaster if someone wasn't strapped in and the aircraft was at a higher altitude.
 More 737 Woes - bathtub tom
I saw a report that said it was thirty-odd minutes into the flight and de-pressurised. I'd expect most passengers would've undone their seatbelts. Were they lucky none ejected?
 More 737 Woes - Bromptonaut
>> I saw a report that said it was thirty-odd minutes into the flight and de-pressurised.
>> I'd expect most passengers would've undone their seatbelts. Were they lucky none ejected?

According to the BBC the whole flight was about 40mins 16:52-17:27.
 More 737 Woes - Zero
FAA has grounded 171 737 Max 9's.
 More 737 Woes - CGNorwich
It only the version 9 that's currently grounded then? I flew with Air Canada on the version 8 in October. From a customer point of view its a nice plane.
 More 737 Woes - Bromptonaut
>> It only the version 9 that's currently grounded then? I flew with Air Canada on
>> the version 8 in October. From a customer point of view its a nice plane.

Seems to be related to versions with the facility for an extra door, possibly emergency only like the over wing exits, that's only needed in very high capacity versions. This one had the cut outs etc but as they flew with lower seating numbers it wasn't actually a door.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Sat 6 Jan 24 at 21:11
 More 737 Woes - Kevin
>This one had the cut fall outs etc...

One of the photos taken on the ground from inside the cabin appears to show that the whole skin panel has come away in one piece with 4 upper securing brackets and their bolts still attached to the formers.
 More 737 Woes - Biggles
About 7 minutes by the look of it.
www.flightaware.com/live/flight/ASA1282
 More 737 Woes - Fursty Ferret
My previous employer was in the process of deciding between expanding their existing fleet of 737s, or switching entirely to A320s. The price was about the same but the issue was that the equivalent A320 is heavier than the 737, which has a cost penalty over the lifetime.

A senior manager was dispatched to Toulouse to find out why. Reportedly he came back, sucked his teeth, and said “build quality”.

They bought the Airbus.
 More 737 Woes - Manatee
Were I given to worrying about these things, i.e. if I ran an airline, the story behind MCAS would worry me. If they can take a short cut like that, under-developing and concealing information about what turned out to be a major software change, what else have they done with the MAX that puts profit above safety?

Incredible that such a company should behave so recklessly, in a way that suggests they misunderstand their own industry.
 More 737 Woes - Zero

>> Incredible that such a company should behave so recklessly, in a way that suggests they
>> misunderstand their own industry.

The real worry was the way they subverted the FAA over a period of time before the crashes, and the way airlines were happy to jump back into their product lines. Shows they understood the industry far too well.
 More 737 Woes - Zero
Its not the total flight time that does for airframes, its the up and down flight cycles.
 More 737 Woes - Bromptonaut
>> Its not the total flight time that does for airframes, its the up and down
>> flight cycles.

Both. And both are recorded. The 737 in Hawaii that lost a chunk of fuselage was low(ish) hours but high cycles.

In this case it's a pretty well brand new frame. My guess is it's either manufacturing or modifications with something not matching as it should - like the BA 1-11 that lost its windscreen way back when.
 More 737 Woes - CGNorwich

>> I'd expect most passengers would've undone their seatbelts. Were they lucky none ejected?
>>

I always keep my seatbelt fastened, just loosened a little. Seems sensible.
 More 737 Woes - Rudedog
One of the TV interviews lastnight with a passenger said that there was a child sitting in the seat where the panel broke away and it was only their mother holding onto them stopped something very bad happening.
 More 737 Woes - Bromptonaut
>> One of the TV interviews lastnight with a passenger said that there was a child
>> sitting in the seat where the panel broke away and it was only their mother
>> holding onto them stopped something very bad happening.

Not seen the Ma holding on bit but apparently the kid's shirt was pulled over his head and lost in the force of the decompression.
 More 737 Woes - henry k
>>a passenger said that there was a child sitting in the seat where the panel broke away

From what I have read, a "teenager" was sitting in the "C" seat, i.e. furthest from the window.
All the seat cushions of seats A and B ( held on by velcro ) exited with other small items.
Not sure how mum held on unless it was from the row behind.
Of course seats A B and C are all in one bolted down unit.
No reports yet of any findings on the ground.
The oxygen masks not needed by most folks but look pretty.

A good reminder to belt up !
 More 737 Woes - Duncan
They have found the lump of plane that blew out.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-67909417
 More 737 Woes - henry k
www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/01/08/boeing-737-alaska-airlines-plane-door-plug/
 More 737 Woes - Zero
thats gonna wreck the man from Norwich's new tyre
 More 737 Woes - Duncan

>> I always keep my seatbelt fastened, just loosened a little. Seems sensible.
>>

Norfolk man has it right.
 More 737 Woes - Manatee
They had been c. 3 pressurisation warnings on previous flights. The airline was concerned enough to exclude the aircraft from flying over water.

I expect questions as to why they thought it was ok to fly at all before they had identified the cause of the warnings. Otherwise what is the point of warnings. It wasn't going to mend itself.
 More 737 Woes - sooty123
>> They had been c. 3 pressurisation warnings on previous flights. The airline was concerned enough
>> to exclude the aircraft from flying over water.
>>
>> I expect questions as to why they thought it was ok to fly at all
>> before they had identified the cause of the warnings. Otherwise what is the point of
>> warnings. It wasn't going to mend itself.
>>

I believe they had carried out maintenance work after each warning. That's what the airline said in one of the news reports. The no one water flights may well have been a reasonable Lim with information at the time.

There's no information about the nature of the cabin pressurisation issues, they may have been linked or not. Three is the minimum to put a trend together, but cabin pressurisation is a big system so not always easy to make that trend.
 More 737 Woes - Bromptonaut
>> I believe they had carried out maintenance work after each warning. That's what the airline
>> said in one of the news reports. The no one water flights may well have
>> been a reasonable Lim with information at the time.

Each fault was followed up by maintenance with the indicator being reset. It's not clear from what I've seen - the Safety Board are producing regular updates - whether any actual fault was found. Further investigations were scheduled but the aircraft was dispatched for the incident flight beforehand.

There is also an issue that the Cockpit Voice Recorder wasn't stopped after landing so the incident was over written!
 More 737 Woes - sooty123
The system would normally be reset with an ibit so that's not much out of the ordinary there nor is it, on it's own, indicative of a common fault.


Yes i read the crew forgot to trip the CB.
 More 737 Woes - bathtub tom
I find it worrying that the cockpit door flew open. I thought those things were supposed to be locked securely enough to deter a terrorist attack.
 More 737 Woes - Bromptonaut
>> I find it worrying that the cockpit door flew open. I thought those things were
>> supposed to be locked securely enough to deter a terrorist attack.

I thought that too but then there may be something that's designed to break at a certain load rather than distort or cause further damage with a pressure differential across it.
 More 737 Woes - Zero

>> I thought that too but then there may be something that's designed to break at
>> a certain load rather than distort or cause further damage with a pressure differential across
>> it.

Yeah its designed to resist force from passenger cabin to cockpit, not t'other way round.
 More 737 Woes - Zero
So, loose bolts have been found. That carries a two way sword for Boeing. On the good side, its not a structural design defect, on the bad side its a fundamental failure of quality control.
 More 737 Woes - Biggles
Or is designed to release in the event of a fire so that the fire fighters have a chance of rescuing unconscious pilots.
 More 737 Woes - zippy
Seeing some photos of the 737 on the news, it looks like the door impacted the tail fin as it departed the aircraft.

There are some scratches on the tail. We would likely be looking at a very different outcome if the tail were seriously damaged.
 More 737 Woes - Bromptonaut
>> There are some scratches on the tail. We would likely be looking at a very
>> different outcome if the tail were seriously damaged.

Damaged it or got caught on the stabiliser....

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan-Air_Flight_240
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