Gun Free Zone

Where a Redneck Jew, a Hispanic Catholic, and a Computer Geek write about Gun Rights, Self Defense and whatever else we can think about.

Month: May 2020

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And if you need more proof that it is time to re-open the country: Dancing Nurses.

May 1, 2020 Miguel.GFZ 3 comments

I don’t know you, but if the medical personnel that is supposed to be in the frontlines is doing this, maybe the threat is not as bad anymore as we are being told. (Some jurisdictions excepted)

 

As I said, some locations have been working their asses off but it appears a lot of hospitals could be now taking care of regular patients and they only are not doing it, but having personnel sent home because we need the space and money for the Dancing Nurses Troupe.

I kept my mouth shut since I saw this a couple of weeks ago because I figured some were just releasing tension. But videos with empty beds and clearly fresh and bored people who had the time to create a dancing routine indicate that we are now officially in the Bullshit section of the emergency.

 

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Goodbye Boeing

May 1, 2020 J. Kb 14 comments

I feel like I’ve been picking on Boeing a lot.

I’ve criticized their woke advertising.

I’ve criticized their failures for the Starliner lack of testing.

I want to make it clear that I have no personal animus towards Boeing.  I not a disgruntled ex-Boeing employee.

I am an engineer in an aerospace city with a passion for defense and space exploration.  I should be a Boeing fan.

My problem is that Boeing, to me, exemplifies the C-Suite corporate rot that occurs when executive level management disconnects in their brains the shareholder value of the company from the company’s core competencies of producing a quality and safe product.

An aerospace company should make air and spacecraft that complete their missions without incident.

To do that requires engineers and technicians that take pride in their work and do their job well.  That requires management to promote a culture of quality and to go to bat for the engineering and test teams when they demand test data, and to value the input of people who try to warn the company of problems.

When you don’t have that, you get shit like this:

Boeing finds debris in fuel tanks of many undelivered 737 MAX jets

Um… what?

Boeing Co (BA.N) has found debris in the fuel tanks of dozens of undelivered 737 MAX jets amid ongoing inspections as the Chicago-based planemaker struggles to restore the trust of airlines and the wider public in the grounded fleet.

This is not restoring trust.

Boeing found debris in the fuel tanks of about 35 aircraft, a company spokesman confirmed on Friday. A person familiar with the matter told Reuters that more than 50% of the undelivered 737 MAX jets inspected thus far have had debris found in them.

Foreign object debris, an industrial term for rags, tools, metal shavings and other materials left behind by workers during production, has been a quality-control issue for various Boeing aircraft, such as its KC-46 tankers.

This week, an internal memo seen by Reuters showed that Boeing found debris that could pose potential safety risks in the fuel tanks of several 737 MAX aircraft in storage and waiting to be delivered to airlines.

That plane is never going to fly again.

I doubt there is enough money to bribe Congress to authorize the sale of a plane with an autopilot that likes to take a nosedive into the dirt and has a coinflip’s chance of having some shit in the fuel tank get sucked into the engine.

This is probably why it was announced:

Boeing said it burned through $4.3 billion in the first quarter and will cut 10% of its workforce

Boeing announced Wednesday that it burned through $4.3 billion in cash in the first quarter and posted a $641 million loss, as the company braces for a prolonged impact on the aerospace sector from the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with the ongoing 737 Max crisis.

This is about 16,000 people.

Don’t bullshit me that this is COVID-19 related.

Yes, flights are down.  But aircraft have a fixed service life.  All this does is delay the purchase of new aircraft by some period of time.  Once normal flight operations resume, aircraft turnover will return to normal.

And don’t tell me “in the post COVID world, fewer people will fly because of the risk.”  I was told that after 9/11 too and that lasted a year.

Furthermore, the government of the US and other countries in Europe are still pushing fuel efficiency standards for aircraft that will necessitate the purchase of new planes.

This loss is the 737MAX and the reputation for failure that Boeing is developing coming home to roost.

This meme says it all:

 

The current downfall of Boeing is a masterclass in how not to run a company.

If anything will save Boeing, it is a return to a focus on producing quality aircraft by creating a corporate culture of quality and performance that goes all the way up to the top levels of management.

Not one that cuts tests, hides bad data, and hires people who leave rags and garbage in fuel tanks to save money.

If Boeing’s valuation does crash into the ground like a malfunctioning 737MAX, I’ll be happy to buy the company with the cash in my change jar and run it as an engineer, not a stock price.