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Comment Probably Shop Floor equipment (Score 3, Insightful) 199

A lot of older Railroad maintenance equipment, specifically for shop floor environments used old, outdated PCs running as controllers for things like wheel truing, and repetitive tasks. It's not full-blown CNC but gives the operator some sense of measurement, and what the process is currently doing in terms of completion.

Comment I guess nobody ever saw how it was stacked at KSC? (Score 1) 30

multiple large cranes using a special lifting jig would lift the shuttle over the supporting bay structure in the VAB, over 100 feet, and then down onto the launch pad.

Yeah, sure it's "never been done before" and unlike before it's not loaded with a payload or equipment so it's lighter. Here's an excerpt of part of the lift in the VAB

Comment Re:Get real (Score 1) 253

Wheels, landing gear etc. are usually inspected, and refurbished by third parties. This would include materials analysis (checking for wear, stress cracks etc.) What do you want to bet that Delta used a "cheap" low-cost third party to refurbish those components.
In this case the 757 was taxiing, it wasn't barrelling down the runway about to rotate. What others don't realize is how frequently wheel assemblies with tires are changed on aircraft. Why? consider how much rubber is scrubbed off on a landing; tires are wear items. If you assume 1/32" per landing that's scrubbed off and usual flight loads and schedule, tires are probably changed at least once a week and not all at the same time on most aircraft operating on commercial airlines.

Comment Get real (Score 5, Insightful) 253

It was the latest troubling episode involving one of the manufacturer's aircraft

The last 757 was built in 2004. How is this a Boeing issue when a maintenance problem is most likely the cause?
I'm not a Boeing fan but these aren't 737-MAX or 737-900 aircraft.
Also, maintenance procedures matter. One of the worst air disasters in US history was caused by maintenance crews taking shortcuts.

The worst US air disaster in terms of loss of life was American Airlines Flight 191, which crashed on May 25, 1979, killing all 271 people on board. The plane was taking off from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport when a left engine pylon separated from the wing, causing the aircraft to lose control and crash.

The investigation found several factors, with the main cause:

Improper maintenance procedures: During an engine change eight weeks before the flight, damage was inflicted on the pylon structure holding the left engine to the wing due to using a forklift in an unsupported manner. This damage went undetected and subsequently developed into fatigue cracks.
Contributing factors:

Engine separation: During takeoff, the fatigue cracks caused the pylon holding the left engine to fail, leading to the engine detaching from the wing.

Loss of control: The detached engine severed hydraulic lines controlling the leading-edge slats on the left wing. These slats are crucial for generating lift at low speeds, and their retraction significantly increased the stall speed of the left wing compared to the right.

Aerodynamic stall: Due to the unbalanced lift and disrupted airflow caused by the missing engine and retracted slats, the left wing stalled, causing the aircraft to roll uncontrollably to the left.

Limited crew response: The pilots struggled to regain control due to the lack of clear information about the situation and the severity of the damage.

Comment Are these the same CEOs (Score 1) 96

Are these the same ones that usually are wrong, overpaid, and listen to third-party "Magic Quadrant" fanatics?

There's a lot of hype around GenAI however once you start digging under the covers it's only good for a few things that are narrow in terms
of capabilities. I'm afraid many CEOs who bet the shop on this, as early adopters, don't consider that there will be a lot of reality soaking in.

Comment it's all too common (Score 1) 35

I did a stint a few years ago with a client in a very highly regulated industry having to deal with jurisdictions at county levels across the US. Every day there were marshalls delivering stacks of legal notices and subpoenas to the front desk of this place. It was just part of the business they were in and they were successful even though they had lawyers across the country dealing with cases all the time. Then they were bought out and the new owners brought along with them their philosophy, since these cases were small, sometimes dealing with values less than $1K, they'd just disregard the case and pay the fines. It gutted the legal dept expenses and made the business more profitable.

I guess in Verizon's case they say $100M fine vs $200M in revenue, they're good with paying the fine.

Comment Two critical bolts (Score 2) 84

Two critical bolts at the bottom of the removable panel, I won't call it a door. They're supposed to be torqued with castellated nuts and pinned. Considering the size of the panel I would think there would be a few more fasteners all with at least Nord Lock washers to secure them further. Yeah, this is a cheap design because if those two bolts let go, by loosening then the panel springs pop it up and past the 6 interlocking tabs in the fuselage, and off it goes.

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