Concerns about Boeing Aircraft

MF has kindly alerted me to this subject, thanks:

... but first, recall my post on 'One dead as Singapore Airlines plane makes emergency landing due to turbulence, 30 reported injured'.

The following day I so happened to be having a cuppa with an old matey of mine, an aircraft Captain working in Cathay Pacific. Both of us were Kongsamkok-ing (berbual2; pah1kok1) when we brought up the subject of SIA (SQ321) - we were both fascinated by the horrific midair phenomenon and my matey, let's call him Bob, predicted it must be more than just Clear Air Turbulence (known as CAT* to aviators) - way before Flight Radar showed the path of the unfortunate SIA B777 crossing south of the Irrawaddy delta where thunderstorm clouds were rife.

* Clear Air Turbulence (CAT) is a sudden and severe swirl that causes violent buffeting of a plane even where there are no clouds, as defined by the FAA (US Federal Aviation Administrator, the equivalent to our Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) of the Ministry of Transport)

Bob related some of his personal experiences with thunderstorms and turbulence to me, and wondered whether airline passengers can ever/fully trust air travel again - coincidentally the same comments made by my blog-visitor MF.

The above have been made worse by additional information provided by MF, as follows:

Chuck Callesto

@ChuckCallesto

SHOCK REPORT: New FAA notice reveals 300 Boeing planes used by American and United Airlines have potentially FATAL FLAW that may cause jets to EXPLODE mid-air... Earlier this year, a new series of Boeing jets were discovered to have a potentially deadly defect.. The problem was identified as an electrical fault in the company's 777 jets that could lead to the fuel tanks in the plane's wings igniting and exploding. The finding indicates that nearly 300 additional aircraft might be at risk, including jets operated by United and American Airlines, as stated in a notice by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Daily Mail US

8:20 am · 23 May 2024

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328.8K

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I wonder how many of you (not the young ones but people of my peerage) recall the tragic crash of a TWA Boeing 747 just off the coast of Eastern USA years ago (July 1996) - read following Wiki report:

Trans World Airlines Flight 800 (TWA800) was a Boeing 747-100 that exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York, on July 17, 1996, at approximately 8:31 p.m. EDT, 12 minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport, on a scheduled international passenger flight to Rome with a stopover in Paris.^[1]: 1 All 230 people on board died in the crash; it is the third-deadliest aviation accident in U.S. history. Accident investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) traveled to the scene, arriving the following morning^[1]: 313 amid speculation that a terrorist attack was the cause of the crash.^[2][3][4]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and New York Police Department Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) initiated a parallel criminal investigation.^[5] Sixteen months later, the JTTF announced that no evidence of a criminal act had been found and closed its active investigation.^[6]

The four-year NTSB investigation concluded with the approval of the Aircraft Accident Report on August 23, 2000, ending the most extensive, complex, and costly air disaster investigation in U.S. history at that time.^[7][8] The report's conclusion was that the probable cause of the accident was the explosion of flammable fuel vapors in the center fuel tank. Although it could not be determined with certainty, the likely ignition source was a short circuit.^[1]: xvi Problems with the aircraft's wiring were found, including evidence of arcing in the fuel quantity indication system (FQIS) wiring that enters the tank. The FQIS on Flight 800 is known to have been malfunctioning; the captain remarked about "crazy" readings from the system about two minutes and 30 seconds before the aircraft exploded. As a result of the investigation, new requirements were developed for aircraft to prevent future fuel-tank explosions.^[9]

TWA 800

Given the recent scandals plaguing Boeing Company, I again wonder ... hmmmmm???