It is one thing for the media to witlessly parrot Boeing press releases about the super light weight benefits of 787 Dreamliner, but are the airlines really that stupid? asks Ben Sandilands.
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Is this Boeing’s most important project?
A biofuels research agreement between Boeing and the CSIRO is arguably the most important research effort being made in transport, writes Ben Sandilands.
Boeing gets twin engine long range limitations removed
Boeing has been given design type approval to offer airlines flying its 777 models up to 330 minutes extended range or ETOPS operations, meaning Qantas could fly non-stop between Sydney and Buenos Aires or Johannesburg in a 777, writes Ben Sandilands.
Atlas drops three Boeing 748 freighters
US air freighter specialist, Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, has cancelled its first three Boeing 747-8F freighters, writes Ben Sandilands.
American Airlines embarks on largest jet buy in history
American Airlines has split what it says is the largest jet purchase in history between Airbus and Boeing with firm orders for 260 A320 family airliners, and 200 Boeing 737s, says Ben Sandilands.
Boeing takes a leaf out of Swanny’s budget book
Boeing are using the same media management technique at work for the Federal Budget: break some bad news early and draw attention to specific areas, writes Ben Sandilands.
Boeing rooted in the past? Take it as red
Boeing’s misfortunes also mesh in with the US paranoia over the threats to or even loss of financial and technological leadership to China in coming decades.
Boeing’s dream fast becoming the nightmare that has to go
If Boeing didn’t deliberately lie, it had to have been totally ignorant of the true state of the project for which it was raking in mega-bucks.
Boeing’s boo-boo: we didn’t think it through
With only four days to go before a major regularly scheduled investor briefing in the US, Boeing is rolling out more admissions of failure about the 787 Dreamliner program, reports Ben Sandilands.
Two presidents, 200 new Boeings and one great big lie
The American media has been quick to nail Boeing and two presidents - Hu Jintao and Barack Obama - for pushing a great big lie about China ordering 200 new jet airliners. But not quick enough to prevent Boeing stock investors being ripped off by a spike caused by contrived euphoria, writes Ben Sandilands.
Boeing going gone … is the Qantas Dreamliner over?
The Boeing Dreamliner project is now caught in a destructive sequence of setbacks that threatens that company as well as major customers like Qantas with very serious consequences.
The Airbus A320 Fat Lady sings
It has been an incredibly long game of poker between Airbus and Boeing over the question of whether to re-engine their cash cow single aisle jets, the A320 and 737NG families respectively, or go directly to an all-new design in the 2020s, writes Ben Sandilands.
Players say our air-safety standards are good enough
The management mindset that risks the lives of hundreds of Australian air travellers in a crash in the next 10 years is abundantly on display in carrier and regulator submissions to the Senate inquiry into pilot training and airline safety.
aviation industry Boeing versus the bloggers
Plane Talking has removed two images of the fire damage inside the second Dreamliner test and certification aircraft, ZA002, from the preceding article at the request of Boeing.
Boeing: its own words fail it
Boeing is using the language of failure again in its guidance on the problems with the 747-800F, the freighter version of what is supposed to be the last and finest of the line of ‘jumbo’ jets stretching back nearly 42 years, writes Ben Sandilands.
Qantas CityFlyer 767s could crack under pressure
The discovery of unexpected fatigue cracks in at least four American Airlines Boeing 767s in the last month has cast a shadow over the widely used twin aisle jet.
Boeing eyes biological waste fuel as the only way to fly
A deal announced between Boeing and China to evaluate a sustainable biofuels industry is part of a push to turn shit into a clear fluid that will burn exactly the same in a jet engine as aviation-grade kerosene.
Waverider scramjet makes Mach 5 debut
Boeing’s X-51A Waverider has traced an arc of fire above the Pacific Ocean off southern California overnight in a hypersonic debut notable more for its duration than speed, writes Ben Sandilands.
How far has myth making outflown the realities of plastic jets?
The age of lightweight breakthrough composite airlines is still a long way away. That’s the problem of letting myth making run ahead of an investment in new designs and their supporting engineering and technology, writes Ben Sandilands.
Qantas and Jetstar 787 time warp persists
Qantas today confirmed that it expects to gets its first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners in mid-2013, but it looks like a very difficult commitment for Boeing to uphold, writes Ben Sandilands.
The defence plane you can’t see or hear
Boeing’s Phantom Ray unmanned defence systems test vehicle looks the part of a 1950’s comic book, but will it be able to tell the difference between a school and a collection of baddies in central Asia? asks Ben Sandilands.
Video of the Day: How to build an airplane in under two-and-a-half minutes
Watch Southwest Airline construct a new Boeing jet in the time it takes to make a cup of tea:
A380 vs. the volcano: who are the crazy pilots who fly into the ash?
Both Airbus and Boeing have a hardcore cadre of test pilots who are paid very, very well to deliberately do insanely dangerous things to passenger aircraft — like, say, fly through volcanic ash…
Boeing’s freeze over cold soak tests
Airliners must pass a test in which they are left unpowered and unheated for prolonged periods at -40C to prove the integrity of their components in polar conditions. So why aren’t Boeings new planes doing the tests? asks Ben Sandilands.
Serious questions over safety oversight at Qantas
Last night’s 747 turnback to Sydney airport was an inconvenient non-event for passengers. But this is not true of another area of doubt at Qantas — safety oversight and record keeping.
