Like most neoliberal institutions, Boeing had come under the spell of a seductive new theory of “knowledge” that essentially reduced the whole concept to a combination of intellectual property, trade secrets, and data, discarding “thought” and “understanding” and “complex reasoning” possessed by a skilled and experienced workforce as essentially not worth the increased health care costs.

Maureen Tkacik in The American Prospect. Suicide Mission

What Boeing did to all the guys who remember how to build a plane

Read Cory Doctorow's remarks, Pluralistic: Async mugwump linkdump (30 Mar 2024)

Suicide Mission: What Boeing did to all the guys who remember how to build a plane

John “Swampy” Barnett, a 26-year quality manager at Boeing, tried unsuccessfully to stop management from destroying the company for the benefit of vulture investors. He died of apparent suicide recently, but his former colleagues don’t believe his death was self-inflicted. By Maureen Tkacik. [prospect.org]

Cory Doctorow notes that whether or not Boeing assassinated Barnett, company CEO Jim McNerny and its leadership killed hundreds of people on crashed 737s through willful incompetence. McNerney was proudly contemptuous of competence, publicy calling senior engineers “phenomenally talented assholes" and rewarding managers who forced them out of the company. [pluralistic.net]

Boeing’s deliberately defective fleet of flying sky-wreckage

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me TOMORROW (May 2) in WINNIPEG, then Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), Tartu, Estonia, and beyond!

Boeing's 787 "Dreamliner" is manufactured far from the company's Seattle facility, in a non-union shop in Charleston, South Carolina. At that shop, there is a cage full of defective parts that have been pulled from production because they are not airworthy.

Hundreds of parts from that Material Review Segregation Area (MRSA) were secretly pulled from that cage and installed on aircraft that are currently plying the world's skies. Among them, sections 47/48 of a 787 – the last four rows of the plane, along with its galley and rear toilets. As Moe Tkacik writes in her excellent piece on Boeing's lethally corrupt culture of financialization and whistleblower intimidation, this is a big ass chunk of an airplane, and there's no way it could go missing from the MRSA cage without a lot of people knowing about it:

https://prospect.org/infrastructure/transportation/2024-04-30-whistleblower-laws-protect-lawbreakers/

More: MRSA parts are prominently emblazoned with red marks denoting them as defective and unsafe. For a plane to escape Boeing's production line and find its way to a civilian airport near you with these defective parts installed, many people will have to see and ignore this literal red flag.

The MRSA cage was a special concern of John "Swampy" Barnett, the Boeing whistleblower who is alleged to have killed himself in March. Tkacik's earlier profile of Swampy paints a picture of a fearless, stubborn engineer who refused to go along to get along, refused to allow himself to become inured to Boeing's growing culture of profits over safety:

https://prospect.org/infrastructure/transportation/2024-03-28-suicide-mission-boeing/

Boeing is America's last aviation company and its single largest exporter. After the company was allowed to merge with its rival McDonnell-Douglas in 1997, the combined company came under MDD's notoriously financially oriented management culture. MDD CEO Harry Stonecipher became Boeing's CEO in the early 2000s. Stonecipher was a protege of Jack Welch, the man who destroyed General Electric with cuts to quality and workforce and aggressive union-busting, a classic Mafia-style "bust-out" that devoured the company's seed corn and left it a barren wasteland:

https://qz.com/1776080/how-the-mcdonnell-douglas-boeing-merger-led-to-the-737-max-crisis

Post-merger, Boeing became increasingly infected with MDD's culture. The company chased cheap, less-skilled labor to other countries and to America's great onshore-offshore sacrifice zone, the "right-to-work" American south, where bosses can fire uppity workers who balked at criminal orders, without the hassle of a union grievance.

Stonecipher was succeeded by Jim "Prince Jim" McNerney, ex-3M CEO, another Jack Welch protege (Welch spawned a botnet of sociopath looters who seized control of the country's largest, most successful firms, and drove them into the ground). McNerney had a cute name for the company's senior engineers: "phenomenally talented assholes." He created a program to help his managers force these skilled workers – everyone a Boeing who knew how to build a plane – out of the company.

McNerney's big idea was to get rid of "phenomenally talented assholes" and outsource the Dreamliner's design to Boeing's suppliers, who were utterly dependent on the company and could easily be pushed around (McNerney didn't care that most of these companies lacked engineering departments). This resulted in a $80b cost overrun, and a last-minute scramble to save the 787 by shipping a "cleanup crew" from Seattle to South Carolina, in the hopes that those "phenomenally talented assholes" could save McNerney's ass.

Swampy was part of the cleanup crew. He was terrified by what he saw there. Boeing had convinced the FAA to let them company perform its own inspections, replacing independent government inspectors with Boeing employees. The company would mark its own homework, and it swore that it wouldn't cheat.

Boeing cheated. Swampy dutifully reported the legion of safety violations he witnessed and was banished to babysit the MRSA, an assignment his managers viewed as a punishment that would isolate Swampy from the criminality he refused to stop reporting. Instead, Swampy audited the MRSA, and discovered that at least 420 defective aviation components had gone missing from the cage, presumably to be installed in planes that were behind schedule. Swampy then audited the keys to the MRSA and learned that hundreds of keys were "floating around" the Charleston facility. Virtually anyone could liberate a defective part and install it into an airplane without any paper trail.

Swampy's bosses had a plan for dealing with this. They ordered Swampy to "pencil whip" the investigations of 420 missing defective components and close the cases without actually figuring out what happened to them. Swampy refused.

Instead, Swampy took his concerns to a departmental meeting where 12 managers were present and announced that "if we can’t find them, any that we can’t find, we need to report it to the FAA." The only response came from a supervisor, who said, "We’re not going to report anything to the FAA."

The thing is, Swampy wasn't just protecting the lives of the passengers in those defective aircraft – he was also protecting Boeing employees. Under Sec 38 of the US Criminal Code, it's a 15-year felony to make any "materially false writing, entry, certification, document, record, data plate, label, or electronic communication concerning any aircraft or space vehicle part."

(When Swampy told a meeting that he took this seriously because "the paperwork is just as important as the aircraft" the room erupted in laughter.)

Swampy sent his own inspectors to the factory floor, and they discovered "dozens of red-painted defective parts installed on planes."

Swampy blew the whistle. How did the 787 – and the rest of Boeing's defective flying turkeys – escape the hangar and find their way into commercial airlines' fleets? Tkacik blames a 2000 whistleblower law called AIR21 that:

creates such byzantine procedures, locates adjudication power in such an outgunned federal agency, and gives whistleblowers such a narrow chance of success that it effectively immunizes airplane manufacturers, of which there is one in the United States, from suffering any legal repercussions from the testimony of their own workers.

By his own estimation, Swampy was ordered to commit two felonies per week for six years. Tkacik explains that this kind of operation relies on a culture of ignorance – managers must not document their orders, and workers must not be made aware of the law. Whistleblowers like Swampy, who spoke the unspeakable, were sidelined (an assessment by one of Swampy's managers called him "one of the best" and finished that "leadership would give hugs and high fives all around at his departure").

Multiple whistleblowers were singled out for retaliation and forced departure. William Hobek, a quality manager who refused to "pencil whip" the missing, massive 47-48 assembly that had wandered away from the MRSA cage, was given a "weak" performance review and fired despite an HR manager admitting that it was bogus.

Another quality manager, Cynthia Kitchens, filed an ethics complaint against manager Elton Wright who responded to her persistent reporting of defects on the line by shoving her against a wall and shouting that Boeing was "a good ol’ boys’ club and you need to get on board." Kitchens was fired in 2016. She had cancer at the time.

John Woods, yet another quality engineer, was fired after he refused to sign off on a corner-cutting process to repair a fuselage – the FAA later backed up his judgment.

Then there's Sam Salehpour, the 787 quality engineer whose tearful Congressional testimony described more corner-cutting on fuselage repairs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP0xhIe1LFE

Salehpour's boss followed the Boeing playbook to the letter: Salehpour was constantly harangued and bullied, and he was isolated from colleagues who might concur with his assessment. When Salehpour announced that he would give Congressional testimony, his car was sabotaged under mysterious circumstances.

It's a playbook. Salehpour's experience isn't unusual at Boeing. Two other engineers, working on the 787 Organization Designation Authorization, held up production by insisting that the company fix the planes' onboard navigation computers. Their boss gave them a terrible performance review, admitting that top management was furious at the delays and had ordered him to punish the engineers. The engineers' union grievance failed, with Boeing concluding that this conduct – which they admitted to – didn't rise to the level of retaliation.

As Tkacik points out, these engineers and managers that Boeing targeted for intimidation and retaliation are the very same staff who are supposed to be performing inspections of behalf of the FAA. In other words, Boeing has spent years attacking its own regulator, with total impunity.

But it's not just the FAA who've failed to take action – it's also the DOJ, who have consistently declined to bring prosecutions in most cases, and who settled the rare case they did bring with "deferred prosecution agreements." This pattern was true under Trump's DOJ and continued under Biden's tenure. Biden's prosecutors have been so lackluster that a federal judge "publicly rebuked the DOJ for failing to take seriously the reputational damage its conduct throughout the Boeing case was inflicting on the agency."

Meanwhile, there's the AIR21 rule, a "whistleblower" rule that actually protects Boeing from whistleblowers. Under AIR21, an aviation whistleblower who is retaliated against by their employer must first try to resolve their problem internally. If that fails, the whistleblower has only one course of action: file an OSHA complaint within 90 days (if HR takes more than 90 days to resolve your internal complaint, you can no have no further recourse). If you manage to raise a complaint with OSHA, it is heard by a secret tribunal that has no subpoena power and routinely takes five years to rule on cases, and rules against whistleblowers 97% of the time.

Boeing whistleblowers who missed the 90-day cutoff have filled the South Carolina courts with last-ditch attempts to hold the company to account. When they lose these cases – as is routine, given Boeing's enormous legal muscle and AIR21's legal handcuffs – they are often ordered to pay Boeing's legal costs.

Tkacik cites Swampy's lawyer, Rob Turkewitz, who says Swampy was the only one of Boeing's whistleblowers who was "savvy, meticulous, and fast-moving enough to bring an AIR 21 case capable of jumping through all the hoops" to file an AIR21 case, which then took seven years. Turkewitz calls Boeing South Carolina "a criminal enterprise."

That's a conclusion that's hard to argue with. Take Boeing's excuse for not producing the documentation of its slapdash reinstallation of the Alaska Air door plug that fell off its plane in flight: the company says it's not criminally liable for failing to provide the paperwork, because it never documented the repair. Not documenting the repair is also a crime.

You might have heard that there's some accountability coming to the Boeing boardroom, with the ouster of CEO David Calhoun. Calhoun's likely successor is Patrick Shanahan, whom Tkacik describes as "the architect of the ethos that governed the 787 program" and whom her source called "a classic schoolyard bully."

If Shanahan's name rings a bell, it might be because he was almost Trump's Secretary of Defense, but that was derailed by the news that he had "emphatically defended" his 17 year old son after the boy nearly beat his mother to death with a baseball bat. Shanahan is presently CEO of Spirit Aerospace, who made the door-plug that fell out of the Alaska Airlines 737 Max.

Boeing is a company where senior managers only fail up and where whistleblowers are terrorized in and out of the workplace. One of Tkacik's sources noticed his car shimmying. The source, an ex-787 worker who'd been fired after raising safety complaints, had tried to bring an AIR21 complaint, but withdrew it out of fear of being bankrupted if he was ordered to pay Boeing's legal costs. When the whistleblower pulled over, he discovered that two of the lug-nuts had been removed from one of his wheels.

The whistleblower texted Tkcacik to say (not for the first time): "If anything happens, I'm not suicidal."

Boeing is a primary aerospace contractor to the US government. It's clear that its management – and investors – consider it too big to jail. It's also clear that they know it's too big to fail – after all, the company did a $43b stock buyback, then got billions in a publicly funded buyback.

Boeing is, effectively, a government agency that is run for the benefit of its investors. It performs its own safety inspections. It investigates its own criminal violations of safety rules. It loots its own coffers and then refills them at public expense.

Meanwhile, the company has filled our skies with at least 420 airplanes with defective, red-painted parts that were locked up in the MRSA cage, then snuck out and fitted to an airplane that you or someone you love could fly on the next time you take your family on vacation or fly somewhere for work.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/01/boeing-boeing/#mrsa

Image: Tom Axford 1 (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_sky_with_wisps_of_cloud_on_a_clear_summer_morning.jpg

CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

--

Clemens Vasters (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:N7379E_-_Boeing_737_MAX_9.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

What Boeing did to all the guys who remember how to build a plane

by Maureen Tkacik

March 28, 2024

https://prospect.org/infrastructure/transportation/2024-03-28-suicide-mission-boeing/

John Barnett had one of those bosses who seemed to spend most of his waking hours scheming to inflict humiliation upon him. He mocked him in weekly meetings whenever he dared contribute a thought, assigned a fellow manager to spy on him and spread rumors that he did not play nicely with others, and disciplined him for things like “using email to communicate” and pushing for flaws he found on planes to be fixed.

“John is very knowledgeable almost to a fault, as it gets in the way at times when issues arise,” the boss wrote in one of his withering performance reviews, downgrading Barnett’s rating from a 40 all the way to a 15 in an assessment that cast the 26-year quality manager, who was known as “Swampy” for his easy Louisiana drawl, as an anal-retentive prick whose pedantry was antagonizing his colleagues. The truth, by contrast, was self-evident to anyone who spent five minutes in his presence: John Barnett, who raced cars in his spare time and seemed “high on life” according to one former colleague, was a “great, fun boss that loved Boeing and was willing to share his knowledge with everyone,” as one of his former quality technicians would later recall.

More from Maureen Tkacik

But Swampy was mired in an institution that was in a perpetual state of unlearning all the lessons it had absorbed over a 90-year ascent to the pinnacle of global manufacturing. Like most neoliberal institutions, Boeing had come under the spell of a seductive new theory of “knowledge” that essentially reduced the whole concept to a combination of intellectual property, trade secrets, and data, discarding “thought” and “understanding” and “complex reasoning” possessed by a skilled and experienced workforce as essentially not worth the increased health care costs. CEO Jim McNerney, who joined Boeing in 2005, had last helmed 3M, where management as he saw it had “overvalued experience and undervalued leadership” before he purged the veterans into early retirement.

“Prince Jim”—as some long-timers used to call him—repeatedly invoked a slur for longtime engineers and skilled machinists in the obligatory vanity “leadership” book he co-wrote. Those who cared too much about the integrity of the planes and not enough about the stock price were “phenomenally talented assholes,” and he encouraged his deputies to ostracize them into leaving the company. He initially refused to let nearly any of these talented assholes work on the 787 Dreamliner, instead outsourcing the vast majority of the development and engineering design of the brand-new, revolutionary wide-body jet to suppliers, many of which lacked engineering departments. The plan would save money while busting unions, a win-win, he promised investors. Instead, McNerney’s plan burned some $50 billion in excess of its budget and went three and a half years behind schedule.

Swampy belonged to one of the cleanup crews that Boeing detailed to McNerney’s disaster area. The supplier to which Boeing had outsourced part of the 787 fuselage had in turn outsourced the design to an Israeli firm that had botched the job, leaving the supplier strapped for cash in the midst of a global credit crunch. Boeing would have to bail out—and buy out—the private equity firm that controlled the supplier. In 2009, Boeing began recruiting managers from Washington state to move east to the supplier’s non-union plant in Charleston, South Carolina, to train the workforce to properly put together a plane.

Supreme Court, U.S FILED In The OCT 2 2022 Supreme Court ofthe United States  RALAND J BRUNSON, Petitioner,

Named persons in their capacities as United States House Representatives: ALMA S. ADAMS; PETE AGUILAR; COLIN Z. ALLRED; MARK E. AMODEI; KELLY ARMSTRONG; JAKE AUCHINCLOSS; CYNTHIA AXNE; DON BACON; TROY BALDERSON; ANDY BARR; NANETTE DIAZ BARRAGAN; KAREN BASS; JOYCE BEATTY; AMI BERA; DONALD S. BEYER JR.; GUS M. ILIRAKIS; SANFORD D. BISHOP JR.; EARL BLUMENAUER; LISA BLUNT ROCHESTER; SUZANNE BONAMICI; CAROLYN BOURDEAUX; JAMAAL BOWMAN; BRENDAN F. BOYLE; KEVIN BRADY; ANTHONY G. BROWN; JULIA BROWNLEY; VERN BUCHANAN; KEN BUCK; LARRY BUCSHON; CORI BUSH; CHERI BUSTOS; G. K. BUTTERFIELD; SALUD 0. CARBAJAL; TONY CARDENAS; ANDRE CARSON; MATT CARTWRIGHT; ED CASE; SEAN CASTEN; KATHY CASTOR; JOAQUIN CASTRO; LIZ CHENEY; JUDY CHU; DAVID N. CICILLINE; KATHERINE M. CLARK; YVETTE D. CLARKE; EMANUEL CLEAVER; JAMES E. CLYBURN; STEVE COHEN; JAMES COMER; GERALD E. CONNOLLY; JIM COOPER; J. LUIS CORREA; JIM COSTA; JOE COURTNEY; ANGIE CRAIG; DAN CRENSHAW; CHARLIE CRIST; JASON CROW; HENRY CUELLAR; JOHN R. CURTIS; SHARICE DAVIDS; DANNY K. DAVIS; RODNEY DAVIS; MADELEINE DEAN; PETER A. DEFAZIO; DIANA DEGETTE; ROSAL DELAURO; SUZAN K. DELBENE; Ill ANTONIO DELGADO; VAL BUTLER DEMINGS; MARK DESAULNIER; THEODORE E. DEUTCH; DEBBIE DINGELL; LLOYD DOGGETT; MICHAEL F. DOYLE; TOM EMMER; VERONICA ESCOBAR; ANNA G. ESHOO; ADRIANO ESPAILLAT; DWIGHT EVANS; RANDY FEENSTRA; A. DREW FERGUSON IV; BRIAN K. FITZPATRICK; LIZZIE LETCHER; JEFF FORTENBERRY; BILL FOSTER; LOIS FRANKEL; MARCIA L. FUDGE; MIKE GALLAGHER; RUBEN GALLEGO; JOHN GARAMENDI; ANDREW R. GARBARINO; SYLVIA R. GARCIA; JESUS G. GARCIA; JARED F. GOLDEN; JIMMY GOMEZ; TONY GONZALES; ANTHONY GONZALEZ; VICENTE GONZALEZ; JOSH GOTTHEIMER; KAY GRANGER; AL GREEN; RAUL M. GRIJALVA; GLENN GROTHMAN; BRETT GUTHRIE; DEBRA A. HAALAND; JOSH HARDER; ALCEE L. HASTINGS; JAHANA HAYES; JAIME HERRERA BEUTLER; BRIAN HIGGINS; J. FRENCH HILL; JAMES A. HIMES; ASHLEY HINSON; TREY HOLLINGSWORTH; STEVEN HORSFORD; CHRISSY HOULAHAN; STENY H. HOYER; JARED HUFFMAN; BILL HUIZENGA; SHEILA JACKSON LEE; SARA JACOBS; PRAMILA JAYAPAL; HAKEEM S. JEFFRIES; DUSTY JOHNSON; EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON; HENRY C. JOHNSON JR.; MONDAIRE JONES; DAVID P. JOYCE; KAIALPI KAHELE; MARCY KAPTUR; JOHN KATKO; WILLIAM R. KEATING; RO KHANNA; DANIEL T. KILDEE; DEREK KILMER; ANDY KIM; YOUNG KIM; RON KIND; ADAM KINZINGER; ANN KIRKPATRICK; RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI; ANN M. KUSTER; DARIN LAHOOD; CONOR LAMB; JAMES R. LANGEVIN; RICK LARSEN; JOHN B. LARSON; ROBERT E. LATTA; JAKE LATURNER; BRENDA L. LAWRENCE; AL LAWSON JR.; BARBARA LEE; SUSIE LEE; TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ; ANDY LEVIN; MIKE LEVIN; TED LIEU; IV ZOE LOFGREN; ALAN S.LOWENTHAL; ELAINE G. LURIA; STEPHEN F. LYNCH; NANCY MACE; TOM MALINOWSKI; CAROLYN B. MALONEY; SEAN PATRICK MALONEY; KATHY E. MANNING; THOMAS MASSIE; DORIS 0. MATSUI; LUCY MCBATH; MICHAEL T. MCCAUL; TOM MCCLINTOCK; BETTY MCCOLLUM; A. ADONALD MCEACHIN; JAMES P. MCGOVERN; PATRICK T. MCHENRY; DAVID B. MCKINLEY; JERRY MCNERNEY; GREGORY W. MEEKS; PETER MEIJER; GRACE MENG; KWEISI MFUME; MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS; JOHN R. MOOLENAAR; BLAKE D. MOORE; GWEN MOORE; JOSEPH D. MORELLE; SETH MOULTON; FRANK J. MRVAN; STEPHANIE N. MURPHY; JERROLD NADLER; GRACE F. NAPOLITANO; RICHARD E. NEAL; JOE NEGUSE; DAN NEWHOUSE; MARIE NEWMAN; DONALD NORCROSS; ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ; TOM O'HALLERAN; ILHAN OMAR; FRANK PALLONE JR.; JIMMY PANETTA; CHRIS PAPPAS; BILL PASCRELL JR.; DONALD M. PAYNE JR.; NANCY PELOSI; ED PERLMUTTER; SCOTT H. PETERS; DEAN PHILLIPS; CHELLIE PINGREE; MARK POCAN; KATIE PORTER; AYANNA PRESSLEY; DAVID E. PRICE; MIKE QUIGLEY; JAMIE RASKIN; TOM REED; KATHLEEN M. RICE; CATHY MCMORRIS RODGERS; DEBORAH K. ROSS; CHIP ROY; LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD; RAUL RUIZ; C. A. DUTCH RUPPERSBERGER; BOBBY L. RUSH; TIM RYAN; LINDA T. SANCHEZ; JOHN P. SARBANES; MARY GAY SCANLON; JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY; ADAM B. SCHIFF; BRADLEY SCOTT SCHNEIDER; KURT SCHRADER; KIM SCHRIER; AUSTIN SCOTT; DAVID SCOTT; ROBERT C. SCOTT; TERRI A. SEWELL; BRAD SHERMAN; MIKIE SHERRILL; MICHAEL K. SIMPSON; ALBIO SIRES; ELISSA SLOTKIN; ADAM SMITH; CHRISTOPHER H. V SMITH; DARREN SOTO; ABIGAIL DAVIS SPANBERGER; VICTORIA SPARTZ; JACKIE SPEIER; GREG STANTON; PETE STAUBER; MICHELLE STEEL; BRYAN STEIL; HALEY M. STEVENS; STEVE STIVERS; MARILYN STRICKLAND; THOMAS R. SUOZZI; ERIC SWALWELL; MARK TAKANO; VAN TAYLOR; BENNIE G. THOMPSON; MIKE THOMPSON; DINA TITUS; RASHIDA TLAIB; PAUL TONKO; NORMA J. TORRES; RITCHIE TORRES; LORI TRAHAN; DAVID J. TRONE; MICHAEL R. TURNER; LAUREN UNDERWOOD; FRED UPTON; JUAN VARGAS; MARC A. VEASEY; FILEMON VELA; NYDIA M. VELAZQUEZ; ANN WAGNER; MICHAEL WALTZ; DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ; MAXINE WATERS; BONNIE WATSON COLEMAN; PETER WELCH; BRAD R. WENSTRUP; BRUCE WESTERMAN; JENNIFER WEXTON; SUSAN WILD; NIKEMA WILLIAMS; FREDERICA S. WILSON; STEVE WOMACK; JOHN A. YARMUTH; DON YOUNG; the following persons named are for their capacities as U.S. Senators; TAMMY BALDWIN; JOHN BARRASSO; MICHAEL F. BENNET; MARSHA BLACKBURN; RICHARD BLUMENTHAL; ROY BLUNT; CORY A. BOOKER; JOHN BOOZMAN; MIKE BRAUN; SHERROD BROWN; RICHARD BURR; MARIA CANTWELL; SHELLEY CAPITO; BENJAMIN L. CARDIN; THOMAS R. CARPER; ROBERT P. CASEY JR.; BILL CASSIDY; SUSAN M. COLLINS; CHRISTOPHER A. COONS; JOHN CORNYN; CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO; TOM COTTON; KEVIN CRAMER; MIKE CRAPO; STEVE DAINES; TAMMY DUCKWORTH; RICHARD J. DURBIN; JONI ERNST; DIANNE FEINSTEIN; DEB FISCHER; KIRSTEN E. GILLIBRAND; LINDSEY GRAHAM; CHUCK GRASSLEY; BILL HAGERTY; MAGGIE HASSAN; MARTIN HEINRICH; JOHN HICKENLOOPER; MAZIE HIRONO; JOHN HOEVEN; JAMES INHOFE; RON VI JOHNSON; TIM KAINE; MARK KELLY; ANGUS S. KING, JR.; AMY KLOBUCHAR; JAMES LANKFORD; PATRICK LEAHY; MIKE LEE; BEN LUJAN; CYNTHIA M. LUMMIS; JOE MANCHIN III; EDWARD J. MARKEY; MITCH MCCONNELL; ROBERT MENENDEZ; JEFF MERKLEY; JERRY MORAN; LISA MURKOWSKI; CHRISTOPHER MURPHY; PATTY MURRAY; JON OSSOFF; ALEX PADILLA; RAND PAUL; GARY C. PETERS; ROB PORTMAN; JACK REED; JAMES E. RISCH; MITT ROMNEY; JACKY ROSEN; MIKE ROUNDS; MARCO RUBIO; BERNARD SANDERS; BEN SASSE; BRIAN SCHATZ; CHARLES E. SCHUMER; RICK SCOTT; TIM SCOTT; JEANNE SHAHEEN; RICHARD C. SHELBY; KYRSTEN SINEMA; TINA SMITH; DEBBIE STABENOW; DAN SULLIVAN; JON TESTER; JOHN THUNE; THOM TILLIS; PATRICK J. TOOMEY; HOLLEN VAN; MARK R. WARNER; RAPHAEL G. WARNOCK; ELIZABETH WARREN; SHELDON WHITEHOUSE; ROGER F. WICKER; RON WYDEN; TODD YOUNG; JOSEPH ROBINETTE BIDEN JR in his capacity of President of the United States; MICHAEL RICHARD PENCE in his capacity as former Vice President of the United States, and KAMALA HARRIS in her capacity as Vice President of the United States and JOHN and JANE DOES 1-100.  

https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22-380/243739/20221027152243533_20221027-152110-95757954-00007015.pdf

The Congress’ stances on Net Neutrality (Nov. 2017)

The following senators have stated their opposition to Ajit Pai’s repeal and/or support Net Neutrality:

Dianne Feinstein [D-CA] Kamala Harris [D-CA] Micheal Bennet [D-CO] Richard Blumenthal [D-CT] Chris Murphy [D-CT] Tom Carper [D-DE] Chris Coons [D-DE] Bill Nelson [D-FL] Brian Schatz [D-HI] Mazie Hirono [D-HI] Dirk Durbin* [D-IL] Tammy Duckworth [D-IL] Dave Loebsack [D-IA2] Susan Collins [R-ME] Angus King [I-ME] Ben Cardin [D-MD] Chris van Hollen [D-MD] Elizabeth Warren [D-MA] Ed Markey [D-MA] Debbie Stabenow [D-MI] Gary Peters** [D-MI] Amy Klobuchar [D-MN] Al Franken [D-MN] Jon Tester** [D-MT] Catherine Cortez Masto [D-NV] Jeanne Shaheen [D-NH] Maggie Hassan [D-NH] Cory Booker [D-NJ] Tom Udall [D-NM] Martin Heinrich [D-NM] Chuck Schumer [D-NY] Kirsten Gillibrand [D-NY] Sherrod Brown [D-OH] Ron Wyden [D-OR] Jeff Merkley [D-OR] Bob Casey Jr. [D-PA] Jack Reed [D-RI] Sheldon Whitehouse [D-RI] Patrick Leahy [D-VT] Bernie Sanders [I-VT] Mark Warner [D-VA] Tim Kaine [D-VA] Patty Murray [D-WA] Maria Cantwell [D-WA] Tammy Baldwin [D-WI]

The following house representatives have stated their opposition to Ajit Pai’s repeal and/or support Net Neutrality:

Nancy Pelosi [D-CA12] Steny Hoyer [D-MD5] Joseph Crowley [D-NY14] Ben Ray Lujan [D-NM3] Don Young [R-AK] Terri Sewell* [D-AL7] Raul Grijalva [D-AZ3] Kyrsten Sinema [D-AZ9] Jared Huffman [D-CA2] John Garamendi [D-CA3] Doris Matsui [D-CA6] Jerry McNerney [D-CA9] Barbara Lee [D-CA13] Jackie Speier [D-CA14] Eric Swalwell [D-CA15] Jim Costa [D-CA16] Ro Khanna [D-CA17] Anna Eshoo [D-CA18] Zoe Lofgren [D-CA19] Jimmy Panetta [D-CA20] Salud Carbajal [D-CA24] Judy Chu [D-CA27] Adam Schiff [D-CA28] Tony Cardenas [D-CA29] Brad Sherman [D-CA30] Grace Napolitano [D-CA32] Ted Lieu [D-CA33] Jimmy Gomez [D-CA34] Norma Torres [D-CA35] Raul Ruiz [D-CA36] Karen Bass [D-CA37] Mark Takano [D-CA41] Maxine Waters [D-CA43] Nanette Barragan [D-CA44] Alan Lowenthal [D-CA47] Juan Vargas [D-CA51] Scott Peters [D-CA52] Susan Davis [D-CA53] Diana DeGette [D-CO1] Jared Polis [D-CO2] Ed Perlmutter [D-CO7] John B. Larson [D-CT1] Joe Courtney [D-CT2] Rosa DeLauro [D-CT3] Jim Himes [D-CT4] Elizabeth Esty [D-CT5] Lisa Blunt Rochester [D-DE] Darren Soto [D-FL9] Charlie Crist [D-FL13] Kathy Castor [D-FL14] Ted Deutch [D-FL22] Debbie Wasserman Schultz [D-FL23] Frederica Wilson*** [D-FL24] Hank Johnson [D-GA4] John Lewis [D-GA5] Colleen Hanabusa [D-HI1] Tulsi Gabbard [D-HI2] Luis Gutierrez [D-IL4] Mike Quigley [D-IL5] Danny K. Davis [D-IL7] Raja Krishnamoorthi [D-IL8] Jan Schakowsky [D-IL9] Bill Foster [D-IL11] Cheri Bustos [D-IL17] Pete Visclosky [D-IN1] Andre Carson [D-IN7] John Yarmuth [D-KY3] Chellie Pingree [D-ME1] Anthony G. Brown [D-MD4] Jamie Raskin [D-MD8] Jim McGovern [D-MA2] Niki Tsongas [D-MA3] Joe Kennedy [D-MA4] Katherine Clark [D-MA5] Seth Moulton [D-MA6] Michael Capuano [D-MA7] Stephen F. Lynch [D-MA8] Sander Levin [D-MI9] Debbie Dingell [D-MI12] John Conyers [D-MI13] Brenda Lawrence [D-MI14] Tim Walz [D-MN1] Betty McCollum [D-MN4] Keith Ellison [D-MN5] Rick Nolan [D-MN8] William ‘Lacy’ Clay [D-MO1] Jacky Rosen [D-NV3] Carol Shea-Porter [D-NH1] Ann McLane Kuster [D-NH2] Josh Gottheimer* [D-NJ5] Frank Pallone [D-NJ6] Donald Payne Jr. [D-NJ10] Bonnie Watson Coleman [D-NJ12] Michelle Lujan Grisham [D-NM1] Grace Meng [D-NY6] Nydia Velazquez [D-NY7] Hakeem Jeffries [D-NY8] Yvette Clarke [D-NY9] Jerrold Nadler [D-NY10] Carolyn Maloney [D-NY12] Adriano Espaillat* [D-NY13] Jose Serrano [D-NY15] Eliot Engel [D-NY16] Nita Lowey [D-NY17] Sean Patrick Maloney [D-NY18] Paul Tonko [D-NY20] Louise Slaughter [D-NY25] Brian Higgins [D-NY26] G.K. Butterfield* [D-NC1] David Price [D-NC4] Alma Adams [D-NC12] Joyce Beatty [D-OH3] Warren Davidson* [R-OH8] Marcy Kaptur [D-OH9] Marcia Fudge [D-OH11] Tim Ryan [D-OH13] Suzanne Bonamici [D-OR1] Earl Blumenauer [D-OR3] Peter DeFazio [D-OR4] Kurt Schrader [D-OR5] Dwight Evans [D-PA2] Brendan Boyle [D-PA13] Michael Doyle [D-PA14] David Cicilline [D-RI1] Jim Langevin [D-RI2] Jim Cooper [D-TN5] Steve Cohen [D-TN9] Beto O’Rourke [D-TX16] Sheila Jackson Lee [D-TX18] Joaquin Castro [D-TX20] Lloyd Doggett [D-TX35] John Curtis [R-UT3] Peter Welch [D-VT] Robert Scott [D-VA3] Donald McEachin [D-VA4] Don Beyer [D-VA8] Suzan DelBene [D-WA1] Rick Larsen [D-WA2] Derek Kilmer [D-WA6] Pramila Jayapal [D-WA7] Dave Reichert [R-WA8] Adam Smith [D-WA9] Dennis Heck [D-WA10] Mark Pocan [D-WI2] Gwen Moore [D-WI4]

Eleanor Holmes Norton [D-DC]

* = Official statement from verified social media account or web source needed ** = Voted in favour of Pai’s re-nomination as FCC chairman in July, but has expressed opposition to his repeal plan since it was released; keep an eye on them *** = No official statement yet but has been sharing/retweeting posts opposing the FCC’s repeal

I will be keeping this list updated as I receive more information. Some information comes from the Battle for the Net website but needs a source. If you have a source stating your congressman’s opposition to the repeal (preferably as of November 21, 2017), feel free to reblog this post with the source or message me with it.

2020 Watch: Trump navigates chaos after his Oklahoma rally

NEW YORK — Presidential politics move fast. What we’re watching heading into a new week on the 2020 campaign:

Days to next set of primaries (New York and Kentucky): 1

Days to general election: 134

___

THE NARRATIVE

President Donald Trump’s campaign relaunch is off to a rocky start, and his Republican critics are getting louder as coronavirus infections continue to surge.

There were thousands of empty seats at the Oklahoma arena where Trump hosted his comeback rally on Saturday, an embarrassing development at an event designed to showcase the Republican president’s strength. Aides were scrambling to explain away the poor optics as they juggled damaging headlines on other fronts.

Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton’s much-anticipated book will be formally released this week. Bolton becomes the latest in a long line of former Trump aides to raise dire warnings about the president’s job performance. At the same time, the president is trying to distance himself from Attorney General William Barr’s firing of the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, who was forced out in the midst of investigating Trump’s allies.

As Trump navigates continued chaos, voters in New York and Kentucky head to the polls on Tuesday in another set of primary elections that will test the nation’s ability to host fair elections in the age of the coronavirus.

___

THE BIG QUESTIONS

What happened in Tulsa?

The political world was genuinely surprised to see thousands of empty seats at Trump’s comeback rally in Oklahoma over the weekend. Critics often question the president’s grasp of policy, his discipline and his character, but before Tulsa, few people questioned his ability to pack an arena.

Was the relatively low turnout simply an anomaly caused by fears of protests, the pandemic or social media trolls? Or was it a legitimate sign that the energy behind Trump’s reelection is fading?

For a president obsessed with crowd size, this is clearly an embarrassing development that will linger into the week, even if Joe Biden might well have struggled to draw a crowd like Trump did. And perhaps more importantly, the finger-pointing inside Trump’s campaign will intensify ahead of a possible staff shakeup.

Will voting problems continue?

Primary voters across New York and Kentucky offer another high-profile test Tuesday for the nation’s election system amid continued coronavirus concerns. After a series of disturbing recent trends in states like Georgia, Pennsylvania and Nevada, election experts are worried.

Georgia voters waited as long as five hours to cast ballots earlier in the month, a problem that disproportionately affected voters of colour. And a surge in mail balloting created days-long delays in reporting final results in Pennsylvania, among other states.

Trump and Biden face no real opposition this week, so we’ll be paying particular attention to a handful of key Democratic congressional primaries. In Kentucky, Democrats will decide if establishment favourite Amy McGrath or underdog progressive state Rep. Charles Booker takes on Mitch McConnell this fall. And in New York, former school principal Jamaal Bowman has a legitimate chance to defeat 16-term incumbent Rep. Eliot Engel.

Has Democratic overconfidence become a problem?

As Trump’s chaotic presidency continues, Democrats are increasingly under pressure to guard against overconfidence. That’s easier said than done, especially as Trump’s own advisers privately worry about his reelection prospects and a stream of public polls raise the prospect of a Biden victory.

Biden’s numbers may be strong more than four months out, but it’s easy to forget that he struggled badly to energize voters in early primary contests. And few progressive activists seem genuinely excited about his candidacy.

Biden’s campaign and its allies will have their hands full in the coming weeks and months maintaining a real sense of urgency in its supporters. History suggests that fear of Trump alone is not enough.

How much damage will Bolton do?

While the most damning details have already been reported, Bolton’s book, “The Room Where It Happened,” is scheduled for formal release on Tuesday. That means Trump is far from past the negative attention related to the book, which he ensured would remain a bestseller by suing unsuccessfully to block its publication.

Bolton, who worked alongside Trump in the White House for nearly a year and a half, has already called the president unfit for office. He tops a remarkable list of people who have worked closely with Trump and raised similar concerns.

In recent weeks alone, former Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis called Trump a threat to the Constitution; Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff John Kelly agreed; and one of the administration’s highest ranking African Americans, Mary Elizabeth Taylor, resigned to protest Trump’s stance on racial justice.

Will Trump’s attacks on Biden’s mental capacity work?

Lest anyone think some things might be off limits in 2020, the Trump campaign ramped up its attacks on Biden’s age, health and mental capacity last week by launching a website suggesting he’s “barely there.” Among a series of the gaffe-prone Biden’s career lowlights, the site notes that Biden forgot when he had a brain aneurysm: “Both of his brain aneurysms were in 1988.”

Trump’s campaign is well aware that Biden has siphoned away some of his support among older Americans, a trend that could prove extremely detrimental for Trump in several states come November, especially in Florida. Is this the kind of message that might help Trump win back older voters? One thing is clear: The deeply personal attack has become a pillar of Trump’s 2020 strategy, and the president’s team has the money and the willingness to take it as far as it needs to.

___

THE FINAL THOUGHT

As bad as it looks for Trump’s reelection right now, 134 days is a lifetime in presidential politics. His team has only begun to spend its tremendous resources to persuade swing state voters, the candidates have yet to debate and Biden’s flaws aren’t going away.

___

2020 Watch runs every Monday and provides a look at the week ahead in the 2020 election.

___

Catch up on the 2020 election campaign with AP experts on our weekly politics podcast, “Ground Game.”

Steve Peoples, The Associated Press

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California: March 3

Overview 415 Delegates (10.32% of total) 90 At-Large 54 PLEO At-Large 271 by CD Half-Open Primary 79 Superdelegates Early Voting: February 3 - March 2 Who Can Vote? When Can They Vote? All voters who have registered as Democrats or with no party affiliation may vote in the primary.  California offers same-day registration and party affiliation changes.  The CA GOP is holding a presidential primary on the same day; voters may only vote in one. California offers extensive early voting by mail, and occasional in-person early voting, starting on February 3. Ballot Access All major candidates will appear on the ballot. Details Groups of 90 and 54 delegates are allocated based on the statewide vote.  The CD delegates are distributed among the CDs as follows: 4 for CDs 1, 8, 10, 16, 21, 22, 23, 35, 36, 46, 50 6 for CDs 2, 5, 11, 14, 15, 18, 19, 28, 30, 33, 37, 52, 53 7 for CDs 12, 13 5 for all other CDs Superdelegates Biden ( 8 ): Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Rep. John Garamendi, Rep. Ami Bera, Rep. Tony Cárdenas, Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, Rep. Lou Correa, Kerman Maddox, Bob Mulholland Sanders (2): Rep. Ro Khanna, Susie A. Shannon Warren (1): Rep. Katie Porter Delaney (1): Rep. Juan Vargas Uncommitted (67): Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Gov. Gavin Newsom [formerly Harris], Sen. Kamala Harris [formerly Harris], Rep. Eric Swalwell [formerly Swalwell], Rep. Jared Huffman, Rep. Mike Thompson, Rep. Doris Matsui, Rep. Jerry McNerney, Rep. Josh Harder, Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, Rep. Barbara Lee [formerly Harris], Rep. Jackie Speier, Rep. Jim Costa [formerly Harris], Rep. Anna Eshoo, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, Rep. Jimmy Panetta, Rep. TJ Cox, Rep. Salud Carbajal [formerly Harris], Rep. Julia Brownley [formerly Harris], Rep. Judy Chu, Rep. Adam Schiff, Rep. Brad Sherman, Rep. Pete Aguilar, Rep. Grace Napolitano, Rep. Ted Lieu [formerly Harris], Rep. Jimmy Gomez, Rep. Norma Torres, Rep. Raul Ruiz, Rep. Karen Bass, Rep. Linda Sánchez, Rep. Gil Cisneros, Rep. Mark Takano, Rep. Maxine Waters, Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán [formerly Harris], Rep. Alan Lowenthal, Rep. Harley Rouda, Rep. Mike Levin, Rep. Scott Peters, Rep. Susan Davis, Steven K. Alari, Laphonza Butler [formerly Harris], Becca Doten, Jess Durfee, Mary Ellen Early, Maria Echaveste, Ron Galperin, Rusty Hicks, Alice A. Huffman, Aleita J. Huguenin, Lorna M. Johnson, Michael Kapp, Andrew Lachman, Otto O. Lee, Sandra M. Lowe, Christine Pelosi, John A. Pérez, Melahat Rafei, Alex Gallardo-Rooker, Garry S. Shay, Keith Kaz Umemoto, Amy Elaine Wakeland, Rosalind Wyman, Laurence S. Zakson, Eric Garcetti, Alex Padilla [formerly Harris], Maria Elena Durazo Useful Links The Green Papers Delegate Selection Plan

You Will Be Flying the 737 MAX, Like It Or Not!

There is a shortage of aircraft. Demand outstrips free seats and all those 737 MAX planes will be going back into service. So, it may help to know what’s being done and, more importantly, what mistakes were made to create the issues in the first place. Two crashes later, Boeing and the whole aviation industry is learning lessons on what not to do, starting with one big lesson: take your time, don’t look for what’s wrong, make sure everything is right.

Back in early 2010 Boeing planned to make a clean-sheet plane to deal with better fuel efficiency demanded by the airlines, especially their biggest customer American Airlines (AA). Since Airbus – their only competitor – didn’t have anything in planning Boeing thought they had time. “Not if we’re convinced a new airplane will be coming at or near the end of the decade,” then-CEO Jim McNerney told Aviation Week in mid-2010. “I think our customers will wait for us.” But then Airbus made a blind statement they planned to launch the 320neo before 2020 and promptly got 1,000 orders before a single rivet was driven home. And to make matters worse, AA ordered planes from Airbus... only agreeing to split the order with Boeing if Boeing quickly had a comparable fuel-efficient plane. Boeing freaked, scrapped the plans for a new plane and set about modifying the 737 to take the more fuel efficient LEAP engines from GE. Even GE were caught off guard, “Up until a few days before the American Airlines deal, Boeing was still saying they were going to do an all-new airplane,” said GE’s Chaker Chahrour in 2013. “It was amazing how, literally within a few days, things had turned around.”

Boeing then needed to integrate the LEAP engines into the old design. They extended the nose gear 8 in., cantilevering the engine forward and upward of the wing leading edge and added larger nacelles—which then created more lift at high angles of attack (AOA). Boeing’s solution: Expand the 737’s speed trim system (STS) by adding the MCAS—just two lines of software code that would automatically adjust the horizontal stabilizer. Part of the problem here is that Boeing used only computer modeling and wind-tunnel data, and no limit was put on the number of times the MCAS could activate; it would trigger whenever data fed to it determined that it was needed. Input faulty data (bad AOA vane sensors), and the thing would repeat nose down again and again. In flight testing Boeing refined the system to rely only on those AOA pitot vanes sensing airspeed. What failed on the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airways (ET) crashes? Speculation is that a bird strike took out the ET AOA vanes causing the MCAS to take over no matter what the pilots did.

Why didn’t pilots know about the MCAS at all? Since the system was so-called transparent to all 737 MAX pilots (meaning they could know it was working), Boeing decided not to include information on the MCAS in flight training or flight crew operations’ manuals... and there was almost no training on what to do if the sensors failed. How to turn the thing off? 2 crashes later pilots are already in re-training, in simulators, and in flight testing.

Meantime there are 385 of 737 MAXs parked around the world. Cost to Boeing so far? About $4,900,000,000. And Boeing is building more of them and stockpiling them with plans to re-fly the plane this Fall. But they have said that all production of MAXs could be temporarily halted if the return-to-flight timeline drags on into 2020. And this Fall, if all goes well? In addition to routine work required to get any parked aircraft flying again, Boeing’s upgrades must be installed—a process the company says will take a few hours per airframe. Each aircraft will then be flight-tested—a process that will take days. And each MAX pilot must be trained, in simulators and in the air—a process that can take weeks.

So, here’s the big question: Why don’t airlines simply scrap the planes and buy something else? Current MAX customers don’t have a lot of options. They cannot simply switch orders to Airbus because the A320 family is largely sold out through 2022 and the 385 existing MAX planes are promised to be ready to fly again. For the money people running the airlines, that’s too big an incentive especially because the MAX is 15% more fuel efficient than the regular 737 fleet even if the public is less than confident in the cobbled up 737 MAX.  Signs to watch out for? Your airline booking won’t tell you the aircraft type you’re booked on.

Everything we know about the Boeing 737 Max

The Boeing 737 MAX is a narrow-body aircraft series designed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes as the fourth generation of the Boeing 737, succeeding the Boeing 737 Next Generation (NG). The new 737 series was launched on August 30, 2011. It performed its first flight on January 29, 2016. The new series gained FAA certification on March 8, 2017. The first delivery was a MAX 8 on May 6, 2017, to Malindo Air, which placed the aircraft into service on May 22, 2017. The 737 MAX is based on earlier 737 designs. It is re-engined with more efficient CFM International LEAP-1B engines, aerodynamic improvements (including distinctive split-tip winglets), and airframe modifications.

The 737 MAX series has been offered in four variants, typically offering 138 to 230 seats and a 3,215 to 3,825 nmi (5,954 to 7,084 km) range. The 737 MAX 7, MAX 8, and MAX 9 are intended to replace the 737-700, -800, and -900, respectively. Additional length is offered with the further stretched 737 MAX 10. As of January 2019, the Boeing 737 MAX has received 5,011 firm orders and delivered 350. Following two fatal crashes of MAX 8 aircraft in October 2018 and March 2019, regulatory authorities around the world grounded the aircraft series for an indefinite period, as of March 13, 2019. On March 19, 2019, the U.S. Department of Transportation requested an audit of the regulatory process that led to the aircraft's certification in 2017, amid concerns that current U.S. rules allow manufacturers to largely "self-certify" aircraft.

In 2006, Boeing started considering the replacement of the 737 with a "clean-sheet" design that could follow the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. In June 2010, a decision on this replacement was postponed into 2011. On December 1, 2010, Boeing's competitor, Airbus, launched the Airbus A320neo family to improve fuel burn and operating efficiency with new engines: the CFM International LEAP and Pratt & Whitney PW1000G. In February 2011, Boeing's CEO Jim McNerney maintained "We're going to do a new airplane." At the March 2011 ISTAT conference, BCA President James Albaugh was not sure about a 737 re-engine, like Boeing CFO James A. Bell stated at the JP Morgan Aviation, Transportation and Defense conference the same month. The A320neo gathered 667 commitments at the June 2011 Paris Air Show for a backlog of 1,029 units since its launch, setting an order record for a new commercial airliner. 

On July 20, 2011, American Airlines announced an order for 460 narrowbody jets including 130 A320ceos and 130 A320neos, and intended to order 100 re-engined 737s with CFM LEAPs, pending Boeing confirmation. The order broke Boeing's monopoly with the airline and forced Boeing into a re-engined 737. As this sale included a Most-Favoured-Customer Clause, Airbus has to refund any difference to American if it sells to another airline at a lower price, so the European manufacturer can not give a competitive price to competitor United Airlines, leaving it to a Boeing-skewed fleet.

On August 13, 2015, the first 737 MAX fuselage completed assembly at Spirit Aerosystems in Wichita, Kansas, for a test aircraft that would eventually be delivered to launch customer Southwest Airlines. On December 8, 2015, the first 737 MAX—a MAX 8 named Spirit of Renton—was rolled out at the Boeing Renton Factory. Because GKN could not produce the titanium honeycomb inner walls for the thrust reversers quickly enough, Boeing switched to a composite part produced by Spirit to deliver 47 MAXs per month in 2017. Spirit supplies 69% of the 737 airframe, including the fuselage, thrust reverser, engine pylons, nacelles, and wing leading edges. A new spar-assembly line with robotic drilling machines should increase throughput by 33%. The Electroimpact automated panel assembly line sped up the wing lower-skin assembly by 35%. Boeing planned to increase its 737 MAX monthly production rate from 42 planes in 2017 to 57 planes by 2019. 

The rate increase strained the production and by August 2018, over 40 unfinished jets were parked in Renton, awaiting parts or engine installation, as CFM engines and Spirit fuselages were delivered late. After parked airplanes peaked at 53 at the beginning of September, Boeing reduced this by nine the following month, as deliveries rose to 61 from 29 in July and 48 in August. In collaboration with Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China Ltd., Boeing has built a completion and delivery facility for the 737 MAX in Zhoushan, China. This facility initially handles interior finishing only, but will subsequently be expanded to include paintwork. The first aircraft was delivered from the facility to Air China on December 15, 2018.

On March 11, 2019, in response to the Lion Air and subsequent Ethiopian Airlines accidents (See § Accidents and incidents, below.), China ordered the grounding of all 737 MAX aircraft operated by its airlines. Over the next two days, individual airlines and government authorities around the world also suspended operation of the aircraft,  in contrast to the usual coordinated approach. Two days later, having initially resisted requests, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded the aircraft in the U.S. as the last aviation regulator to take action.  Boeing, after resisting initial requests, then changed its mind and recommended the grounding to the FAA. As of March 14, 2019, Boeing suspended deliveries of new aircraft, but continued production. European and Canadian regulators will conduct their own safety assessments independently of the FAA before lifting the grounding order. The 737 MAX's Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (see § MCAS, below) was implicated in the Lion Air accident and came under suspicion due to apparent similarities in the Ethiopian Airlines crash. Experts suggested that pilot training on the MCAS was insufficient.

Week 4 Reading Response

The reading i did for this week was “Talking Head to Rock Star” by Kinley Levak. This reading talks about the the story about Indra Nooyi becoming the CEO of Pepsi. This is to inform and give tips on how to get better in meetings and presentations.One tip this article gives is to reach out to an executive coach. This coach is responsible for teaching you and the time this coach is brought in when an they enjoy learning from a planner and are eager to learn more about effective speaking. This reading actually help me have a better understanding on what it is to be a good speaker and the way most people want  to hear you. It reflects on how interviews go and what the employer wants from you and things you have to be good at in order to receive that position such as Indra. The different speakers that are shown are clear representations of what proper speaker and presenters should follow in order to become a better speaker. For example people you might know such as Steve Jobs, Jim McNerney, Tony Robbins etc. all these people are very well known not because of what they do or for the company the are in charge of but because of how their speaking and presentations got them there.

i choose this Gif not only because i like batman but because of the way Bane communicates and is able to turn a whole cities prison against civilians. The way he persuades and makes his audience see his logic and being able to manipulate them into working for his is the true meaning of a great speaker. If you can get your audience to not only to listen to you but them to act upon it you have succeeded. Another strong example is Hitler, him being able to turn a whole country against a whole religion is something that is hard to believe. Nobody knows how exactly he was able to persuade such and enormous amount of people but by doing it just with is voice is incredible, but the cause and issue he argued about was a tragedy and will never be forgotten.

Ofcourse speaking is an important aspect in my career. Being able to communicate with anyone in my career will always be important and something  know . i will use in the future. Being able to communicate well in engineering is an important skill that has to be learned and improved upon. i will use it for example interviews, internships, presentations or having a simple talk with my boss will say a lot about me by they way i speak.I choose this gif because everyone remembers when Steve Harvey called out the wrong winner for the Ms.Universe. After that his credibility as a host lowered , not by a lot but it did seem to get a lot of feedback on social median. This just proves the importance of being prepared and ready when your going to present and speak to the public.

Jumbo and superjumbo jets have captivated people for decades; there is just something magnificent about watching a four-engine aircraft roll down the runway and take to the skies or climbing up the stairs to the upper-deck on an airplane.

Unfortunately, the economics of these aircraft are becoming a tough sell for the manufacturers, partly due to the dwindling economic performance. The days that the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747 are in production could become numbered soon.

The last year was a rough one for the A380 program; it faced several order cancellations and deferrals, and Airbus announced that production will decrease in 2018. Although, Airbus did receive its first order from its first Japanese aircraft.

On the other hand, 2016 was a better year for the 747-8 program. Nine aircraft were delivered, and Boeing received orders for 18 747s, including 14 from UPS.

Airbus A380 Program

Back when Airbus launched the A380 program, the manufacturer believed that its superjumbo jet would become hugely popular as airlines would be able to move people in masses, but as Bloomberg points out, “to most airlines, the double-decker remains an exotic addition at best, rather than the backbone of a long-distance fleet.”

The A380 truly allows airlines to do exotic things like the Etihad A380 Residence or installing a shower for first class customers to use at 40,000 feet.

Now it is not all glitz and glam for Airbus’ largest A380 customer, Emirates, the A380 has become a backbone of its fleet as the airline has expanded aggressively since taking delivery of its first A380 back in 2008; the airline is set to eventually have a fleet of 142 with 92 already delivered.

Singapore was the launch customer, and it is the second largest customer for the A380; it will have a mere 24 once all are delivered. Singapore announced it would be returning its first A380, 9V-SKA, back to its lessor in October 2017.

Some airlines jumped on the bandwagon of becoming an owner of the world’s largest commercial aircraft back when the program was launched, but it did not gain as much momentum as Airbus was expecting. The economics for most airlines to operate a four-engine jetliner are just are not strong enough in this day and age. Airbus even planned to offer a freighter version, but with only 27 ordered, plans for it were cancelled.

Airbus received an order for three aircraft from ANA at the beginning of 2016; although a small order, it was a significant one as ANA will become the first Japanese carrier to fly the A380 in 2019.

After this order was announced, 2016 became quite rough for the A380 though.

In March, Air France dropped the remaining 2 aircraft of the 12 that it had on order. opting instead for the A350-900XWB. During Farnborough, no orders were placed for the A380, but it is rumored that with Virgin Atlantic ordering the A350-1000, it is likely their A380 order will be cancelled as well. In August, Qantas announced that it would not take delivery of the remaining eight that were left to deliver of the original order for 20.

With the order books having been relatively quiet for quite some time, Forbes put the A380 program on “death watch” back in June of last year. The program achieved unit cost break even for the first time in 2016. Production has just been hovering at about 28 A380s for the last few A380s, and it is estimated to go down to around 20 for 2017.

In 2018, production is set to decrease to just one per month (12 per year). Airbus has admitted the program will likely revert financially back to the red as production rates decrease.

Just last month, the largest A380 customer, Emirates, announced that it would defer delivery of six A380s from this year to 2018 and push back six from 2018 to 2019.

To date, Airbus has received a total of 319 firm orders and made 207 deliveries; this makes an order backlog of 112. However,when one includes the Air France-KLM and Qantas cancellations, only 102 are left to be delivered.

The 102 outstanding orders that are left are:

Air Accord—3

All Nippon Airways—3

Amedeo—20

Emirates—50

Etihad—2

Qatar Airways—3

Singapore Airlines—5

Undisclosed—10

Virgin Atlantic—6

If Virgin Atlantic does in fact cancel its A380 order like many expect, the number of outstanding orders drops below 100 to 96. In the mean time, many will be watching the Amedeo order as well; they have yet to find any potential customers to lease one of the 20 they have on order. If their luck continues, the number of outstanding orders could drop down even further to 76.

At one point, there was talk of a A380neo (new engine option) program, and Emirates was very much interested in it. However, that seems to have been put on the back burner, and it is quite possible it may never come into fruition.

There may just be a maximum of six years of production for the A380 left, but Airbus could pull the plug at any time. If the manufacturer continues to lose money on the new aircraft, it would not make economical sense to continue the program. However, time will tell.

Boeing 747 Program

It is no secret that the program has long been a challenge for Boeing. Since starting production in August 2008 with only one customer for the aircraft, Boeing’s critics have had their doubts on the success of the 747-8 program. When the first flight was pushed back by a few months, then-Boeing Chief Executive, Jim McNerney, began publicly questioning the success and future of the 747-8 program.

Over time, Boeing was able to prove to its critics that the 747-8 could be a success as it marched through flight-testing and secured orders, although at the time of the first delivery in October 2011, the number of orders was not exactly the strongest, with only 111 firm orders in the books.

2015 was an especially difficult year for the 747-8 program in particular. Transaero folded which meant that it would not take delivery of the four it had on order and Nippon Cargo cancelled four of its order for 14. Plus, it was announced that the production rate would be cut down to half per month in September of that year. Although, Boeing did surpass the 100 delivery mark of the 747-8 in 2015.

In July 2016, Boeing announced that it might have to end production of the 747 due to losses it could receive if no changes were made to the order book. Boeing was also targeting to increase 747 production in 2019 to one aircraft per month, but it announced that it would stick with six per year which it started in September 2016. However, Boeing received an order from UPS for 14 of the freighter version which helped bring some life back to the program.Boeing has received a combined total of 138 orders for the 747-8; 50 of those were for the passenger version and 88 for the freighter version. 110 have been delivered as of December 31, 2016 which leaves 28 unfilled orders. However, when you subtract the Transaero order (which is still on the books) and add the two on order to replace Air Force One, 26 orders are outstanding.As of December 31, 2016, the 26 outstanding orders left are:

AirBridge Cargo—2 freighter variants

Arik Air—2 passenger variants (First one is expected later this year)

Korean Air—3 passenger variants

Nippon Cargo—2 freighter variants

Silk Way Airlines—1 freighter variant

UPS—14 freighter variants (first two are in final assembly)

Two for Air Force One Replacement

If Boeing sticks to its plan of six aircraft per year, there may only be about four more years left of 747 production. It seems highly unlikely Boeing will receive any more orders for the passenger 747-8 Intercontinental passenger variant.  Both Cathay Pacific and Air France retired their passenger 747 fleets last year.

Delta and United are both retiring their 747 fleets by the end of this year; although several other passenger airlines most notably British Airways and Qantas will still be flying their 747s through at least the end of the decade.

It would seem that Boeing’s only hope for more orders is by there being an uptick in air cargo traffic and and a need for more aircraft by them to keep adding to the order books. Boeing executives have still continued to say that they believe there is still more potential in the air cargo market.Will 2017 bring more 747 orders? We will just have to wait and see.

Supervisor Federal Glover Files for Re-Election

Martinez – Incumbent Supervisor Federal Glover, representing District 5 on the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors, officially filed for re-election yesterday with the County Registrar of Voters Office.

“I’m so proud of our accomplishments and excited to be applying for a final term to complete the good work we started,” said Glover. Glover has been one of the County’s top transportation…

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Peltz vs. P&G: Tuesday Vote Will Determine Future

To hear Nelson Peltz tell it, Procter & Gamble is a dinosaur as a titanic agglomeration of huge, traditional CPG brands operating at a time when consumers worldwide are rapidly gravitating to smaller, agile and niche brands, especially one with a unique story that speaks to authenticity, transparency and purpose. He wants representation on the board of the Cincinnati-based giant so that he can press his vision on a reluctant management team.

To hear P&G tell it, Peltz is a brash billionaire and opportunistic pest who doesn’t appreciate the role that big and powerful brands can still play with consumers worldwide, as its giant brands such as Tide and Crest spin off new products so effective they create and dominate new categories, as Crest’s Spinbrush and Tide’s Pods have done. P&G also has hundreds of smaller new brands and products bubbling up through test markets all over the world.

The competing visions of P&G’s future are set to clash on Tuesday, following months of what has become by far the most expensive corporate-proxy contest in US history. Shareholders will get to vote on whether Peltz, whose Trian Partners fund owns 1.5 percent of the company, should get a seat on the P&G board—or be rejected, as P&G is hoping.

To be sure, P&G has had challenges in recent years, losing sales and market share to old and new rivals alike and seeing some brands lose their relevance. Under A.G. Lafley during 2015 and 2016, in his second stint as CEO, and under his successor David Taylor, the company has been trimming billions of dollars and shedding brands as it tries to get back to the basics that made Procter & Gamble a colossus of global business with dozens of billion-dollar brands.

To Peltz, however, that basic vision is more of a problem even than how P&G has been executing it. “All the action today is local,” Peltz told the Wall Street Journal. “It’s these small brands. It’s what the millennials want. They want a brand with emotion, a brand that’s got a story behind it, a brand that brings value to the environment or is organic.” (Think RXBAR, Sir Kensington’s and Dollar Shave Club, to cite three recent examples of indie brands now owned by CPG giants.)

And while P&G has been recasting some of its brands in a sustainability mode and otherwise trying to stay on trend with idealistic millennial consumers, the company isn’t about to apologize for its big brand building blocks that, its leaders say, generate the sales and profits to give it the opportunity to experiment in the first place.

“Declaring big brands dead and buried just because there is new media and a new generation is wrong,” Jim McNerney, P&G’s lead director and the former CEO of Boeing and 3M, told WSJ. “Our new world is big brands presented in different ways through different media.”

Taylor has said that the company is open to creating or acquiring new brands but believes the better strategy is to continue to develop new products within its existing brands, helping it to leverage name recognition and distribution channels that already are in place.

But while Taylor is waiting for some of his efforts to bear fruit, the Journal noted, he’s pumped for Tuesday’s tangle with Peltz. “I’m getting fired up,” he said. “I’m not mad, though. I’m determined.”

And as TheStreet.com notes, even if Peltz loses, his agitating hasn’t been for naught: “Peltz’s criticisms of the company have sent a strong message to CEO David Taylor about the need to acquire lesser-known brands that boast millennials as customers.”

  The post Peltz vs. P&G: Tuesday Vote Will Determine Future appeared first on brandchannel:.

CEO’s in Trump’s Councils Must Take a Moral Stand and Resign

Trump’s statements today have shown:

Trump has further emboldened the same White Supremacists he denounced just yesterday. 

Donald J Trump is an enabler of racism and therefore a RACIST

The 45th president is a White Supremacist and Nazi sympathizer. #DomesticTerrorists

Trump can not be trusted. His actions and words have no credibility unless you’re a member of a White Hate Group.

Trump is not the president of America but to the 38% who are his supporters.

As CEO’s of public companies, your reputations are based on trust and credibility. They are your currency and non negotiable. Trust can never be regained. Without trust, your companies can not succeed.

So on this day, Aug. 15, 2017, you must demonstrate where you and your companies allegiance lies. Resign and stand with Patriotic Americans and the Constitution. The natural consequence of staying with Trump is pretty clear. The world will see you as being complicit with Trump and his racists. Americans will boycott your company. Not good business!

#QuitTheCouncil

Who's still in Trump’s Manufacturing Council

Andrew Liveris, Dow Chemical Company

Bill Brown, Harris Corporation

Michael Dell, Dell Technologies

John Ferriola, Nucor Corporation

Jeff Fettig, Whirlpool Corporation

Alex Gorsky, Johnson & Johnson

Greg Hayes, United Technologies

Marilyn Hewson, Lockheed Martin Corporation

Jim Kamsickas, Dana Inc.

Rich Kyle, The Timken Company

Thea Lee, AFL-CIO

Denise Morrison, Campbell Soup Company

Dennis Muilenberg, Boeing

Michael Polk, Newell Brands

Mark Sutton, International Paper

Inge Thulin, 3M

Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO

Wendell Weeks, Corning

Jeff Immelt, GE

Who’s still in Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum

Paul Atkins, Patomak Global Partners

Mary Barra, General Motors

Toby Cosgrove, Cleveland Clinic

Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase

Larry Fink, BlackRock

Rich Lesser, Boston Consulting Group

Doug McMillon, Wal-Mart

Jim McNerney, formerly Boeing

Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo

Adebayo "Bayo" Ogunlesi, Global Infrastructure Partners

Ginni Rometty, IBM

Stephen A. Schwarzman, Blackstone

Kevin Warsh, former board member at the Federal Reserve, Hoover Institute

Mark Weinberger, Ernst & Young

Jack Welch, formerly General Electric

Daniel Yergin, IHS Markit

Boeing’s New CEO David Calhoun Faces A Daunting Challenge

(Bloomberg) –Boeing Co.’s incoming boss David Calhoun faces a daunting task when he takes over as chief executive officer next year: rescuing the 737 Max while mending the company’s fractured relationship with U.S. regulators. But that’s just the first of the hurdles awaiting him.

Calhoun, who takes the reins Jan. 13, will be leading a once-proud company whose reputation for engineering prowess is now in tatters. On top of the grounding of its best-selling plane after two deadly crashes, Boeing has suffered production stumbles with its KC-46 tanker, delays to its 777X jetliner and an embarrassing mishap that caused its new space capsule to miss a rendezvous with the International Space Station over the weekend.

Then there are growing signs that jetliner sales are cooling after an unprecedented 15-year boom. And the aircraft demand that’s left? Airbus SE’s sales success at the top and bottom ends of the crucial market for single-aisle jets is likely to squeeze Max orders even after the global flying ban is lifted.

“At the outset, Dave Calhoun has one job: manage the Max crisis in all its operational, financial, regulatory, and reputational dimensions,” Seth Seifman, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co., said in a note to clients Monday. “Mr. Calhoun will likely play a key role in product development and this starts with getting the 777X across the finish line but will extend to what new aircraft Boeing should develop.”

Boeing CEO’s Ouster Won’t Solve Deeper Issues: Brooke Sutherland

Boeing fell 1.3% to $333 at the close in New York, as markets shut down early for Christmas Eve. The shares posted the biggest gain in six weeks on Monday after the company named Calhoun to replace Dennis Muilenburg.

Boeing has tumbled 21% since the second Max crash on March 10, which prompted the grounding days later. The decline was the worst on the Dow Jones Industrial Average over that period.

‘Restore Confidence’

Boeing directors voted unanimously to install Calhoun during a special meeting Dec. 22, a person close to the board said. The 62-year-old had served as chairman since October.

Muilenburg, 55, resigned from the post after months of growing pressure from investors and a chorus of calls for his ouster from the U.S. Congress and leading business publications. Earlier this month, Muilenburg drew a rare public rebuke from the Federal Aviation Administration, which is overseeing the Max’s return.

“A change in leadership was necessary to restore confidence in the company moving forward as it works to repair relationships with regulators, customers, and all other stakeholders,” Boeing’s board said in a statement Monday.

Director Larry Kellner, who once led Continental Airlines, will replace Calhoun as chairman. Chief Financial Officer Greg Smith will serve as interim CEO during a brief transition period while Calhoun, a senior executive at Blackstone Group Inc., unwinds a welter of corporate ties.

Calhoun is taking over during one of the bleakest chapters in Boeing’s 103-year history — a crisis that is still getting worse.

The Chicago-based company told its suppliers to suspend parts shipments for a month starting in mid-January, a move that will ripple through a vast supply chain and potentially clip U.S. economic growth. Boeing said last week it would pause production of the Max indefinitely as about 400 new planes pile up in storage. The moves will lengthen the company’s recovery from the Max grounding, while denting future profit and cash.

After U.S. market close on Monday, it emerged that Boeing had disclosed a new batch of internal messages to the FAA, the second time the company delayed turning over sensitive documents related to the development of the Max. The earlier episode had prompted a rebuke by the agency and helped lead to growing tensions between the regulator and the planemaker.

While the contents of the new messages haven’t been publicly revealed, they paint a “very disturbing picture” of concerns about the plane, according to an aide to a House committee. Staffers of the committee are in the process of reviewing the new communications.

Calhoun will serve as a “stabilizer” as Boeing works itself out of the Max crisis that began under Muilenburg’s watch, said Richard Aboulafia, aerospace analyst with Teal Group.

“There’s no doubt with Congress and regulators this is a lot better, and in the short run that matters a lot,” Aboulafia said.

But as Airbus extends its lead in sales of single-aisle planes, Boeing also faces major product-development decisions — starting with when to replace the Max and whether to go forward with a midsize jet to counter the A321neo, which has been racking up sales. Those calls will be difficult for a newcomer to Boeing’s executive ranks with no engineering background, Aboulafia said.

“How do you respond to a serious Airbus challenge in a very important market segment while repairing your balance sheet?” he said.

In another potential complication for Boeing’s product strategy, the company’s proposed $4.2 billion combination with Embraer SA’s commercial-jet business is still under scrutiny in Europe because of antitrust concerns. European Union regulators have asked for information on over 20 years of sales campaigns, Reuters reported Tuesday, underscoring the risk for a deal Boeing envisions as a way wants to compete more effectively with Airbus’s smallest narrow-body jetliners.

Given that Calhoun is just a few years shy of the traditional retirement age of 65 for Boeing executives, one of his most important tasks will be finding a successor.

“He is likely to have a relatively short tour of duty at Boeing,” Robert Stallard, an analyst at Vertical Research Partners, said in a note to clients. Calhoun’s priorities will be “getting the 737 Max back into service without further aggravation, and starting the process of finding a new CEO and senior management team that can potentially get Boeing back on track.”

David Calhoun Career Highlights

Boeing, director; chairman since October 2009-present

Blackstone Group, sr. mng. director 2014-present

Caterpillar, lead director 2011-present

Gates Industrial, chairman 2017-present

Nielsen, director 2006-2017

General Electric, vice chairman 1979-2006

He’s the third GE alumnus to run the company in less than two decades. The two CEOs who preceded Muilenburg — Jim McNerney and Harry Stonecipher — also rose through the ranks at GE while Jack Welch was chief executive.

Calhoun ran GE’s aircraft engines division from 2000 through 2004 and ascended to the vice chairman role before leaving the company in 2006. He’d been in contention to head Boeing at the time; directors instead selected McNerney. Calhoun has regularly tapped old contacts to monitor the Max fallout as confidence in Muilenburg faltered, said a person close to the board.

The new Boeing CEO is known as a polished communicator with deep professional connections. He oversees Blackstone’s private equity portfolio and serves as chairman of the Caterpillar Inc. and Gates Industrial Corp. boards. He will exit his non-Boeing commitments.

He also has professional and personal ties within Boeing, serving on Caterpillar’s board with Muilenburg and Susan Schwab, another director at the planemaker. At GE, his career overlapped with two executives who would go on to prominent roles at Boeing: McNerney and director Mike Zafirovski.

“If there’s a criticism of Calhoun, it’s that he’s “overboarded,” said Cai von Rumohr, an analyst with Cowen & Co.

Longtime Director

As a Boeing director since 2009, Calhoun will bear responsibility for decisions that have come back to haunt the planemaker –including scrapping an all-new single-aisle jet for the 737 Max. The company now faces calls from members of U.S. Congress to look beyond bolstering returns for shareholders — the company’s lodestar for the past two decades.

Calhoun and Boeing directors should pursue an independent, no-holds-barred investigation of the lapses behind the 737 Max accidents, said Howard Wright, an influential business leader in Seattle, Boeing’s industrial base.

Muilenburg adopted the recommendations of an earlier study by a special board committee. But that report was inadequate, said Wright, founder of Seattle Hospitality Group, and co-owner of a small regional airline.

Wright asked, “How on earth did they think they’d learn something new by appointing a board committee to look into the culture of pressure and shortcuts when in fact the board created the culture?”

–With assistance from Alan Levin and Cécile Daurat.

The post Boeing’s New CEO David Calhoun Faces A Daunting Challenge appeared first on Businessliveme.com.

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