Space Exploration II: Always Looking up

[dxmnkd316]

Boeings loss turned into Ford's gain. They turned away from the right choice, and thankfully, Bill Ford saw that Mullaly was available- who literally saved Ford Motor Company. Boeing's demise started with the Mc-D acquisition, they kept the inept Mc-D management- who literally ran Mc-D into the ground- to help run Boeing- the end got going. When they made the hard split to no promote Alan Mullaly to CEO, it was over.

It's going to take more than 20 years to repair Boeing, if they ever can. It's too bad the union has suffered so much that they can't buy their way onto the board.

Was it John Oliver who did a story on Boeing? Either way, whichever outlet ran that program it lines up exactly with what you described.

Boeing is pretty critical to national security. It's not great that we've let (?) them fall this far.

 

[MichVandal]

Was it John Oliver who did a story on Boeing? Either way, whichever outlet ran that program it lines up exactly with what you described.

Boeing is pretty critical to national security. It's not great that we've let (?) them fall this far.

On the Ford side, I lived through that part of the story. And knowing how he totally changed the culture at Ford (which has already been undone....), I heavily extrapolated that to what could have happened to Boeing. Especially since Boeing was headed down the Jack Welsh path of management ("shareholder value").

Sadly, it's a pretty common story across the US- the Boeing part, at least.

We forget that it wasn't the US government that moved jobs away, it were the corporations who thought moving to communist China for labor was a good idea and they would not steal ideas. Even when China *REQUIRED* companies to share tech to set up factories in their country. How anyone is shocked we are were we are now is beyond me- this was pretty obvious in the late 90s to me.

 

[LynahFan]

My god. Boeing really has lost its engineering in every conceivable corner of the company. Maybe they’re still competent on the defense side.

Goodness no. Read up on: KC-46, Air Force One, MQ-25, T-7A. The only aircraft that Boeing Defense has touched recently that didn't turn to complete shit is F-15E/X, and that is a McDonnell-Douglas heritage design.

 

[aparch]

Love the man-behind-the-curtain moment Bezos is having after his all-female crew stunt.

Seems the hatch door was opened prematurely by someone inside the capsule and then the live video feed "glitched," and "another" feed was popped up once the hatch was re-closed.

Then, Bezos came over for the theatrics of "opening" the hatch door for everyone. Shame he got caught on a hot mic chastising the crew for not closing the hatch fully after they accidentally opened it.

What a fraud.

 

[MichVandal]

Love the man-behind-the-curtain moment Bezos is having after his all-female crew stunt.

Seems the hatch door was opened prematurely by someone inside the capsule and then the live video feed "glitched," and "another" feed was popped up once the hatch was re-closed.

Then, Bezos came over for the theatrics of "opening" the hatch door for everyone. Shame he got caught on a hot mic chastising the crew for not closing the hatch fully after they accidentally opened it.

What a fraud.

Are you suggesting that Bezos staged that? Say it ain't so.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Goodness no. Read up on: KC-46, Air Force One, MQ-25, T-7A. The only aircraft that Boeing Defense has touched recently that didn't turn to complete shit is F-15E/X, and that is a McDonnell-Douglas heritage design.

Oh dear.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Follow up question.

Is Lockheed interested in making commercial aircraft?

 

[LynahFan]

Follow up question.

Is Lockheed interested in making commercial aircraft?

I mean, in the generic sense that ANY company who thinks it could generate shareholder value by making commercial aircraft ought to be interested….but under those criteria, I don’t know of any evidence that they’re any more interested than, say Burger King. When I worked there (2002-2005), F-22 was in full production and they had just won F-35, so they looked to be the dominant player in combat aircraft forever. Now, in they last 10 years, they’ve lost B-21, F-47, and if the reports are correct, F/A-XX, too, so they are completely shut out of the 6th generation market. Who knows what a desperate company will do? That’s how we ended up with Grumman canoes and mail trucks….

Publicly, Northrop-Grumman appears more interested in the commercial realm, with its collaboration with JetZero on their blended-wing-body concept. If that works (30% fuel saving), AND if there is public acceptance of the seating arrangement, there could be a substantial commercial market available.

All that said, I’m sure that nobody would seriously entertain doing anything at this point. China stopped buying US planes last week, and selling in Europe is looking challenging as well. There’s no way you could make a commercial airplane profitable selling just to the US carriers, so Trump has killed the US commercial aircraft industry…..for now.

 

[Kepler]

I had never heard of this before. It's interesting.

 

[LynahFan]

I had never heard of this before. It's interesting.

The full-scale demonstrator that they mention is slated to fly in 2027 is being built by Scaled Composites (Burt and Dick Rutan’s old outfit that built the round-the-world Voyager aircraft), which is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Northrop Grumman. That’s a lot of heritage and expertise in fuel efficient, composite flying wings being brought to bear on the problem. I’m not involved in that project in any way, but if anyone can crack this nut, they should have a good shot.

Blended Wing Body Aircraft | Northrop Grumman

Blended Wing Body Aircraft: Demonstrating New Air Mobility Solutions

www.northropgrumman.com

 

[dxmnkd316]

I mean, in the generic sense that ANY company who thinks it could generate shareholder value by making commercial aircraft ought to be interested….but under those criteria, I don’t know of any evidence that they’re any more interested than, say Burger King. When I worked there (2002-2005), F-22 was in full production and they had just won F-35, so they looked to be the dominant player in combat aircraft forever. Now, in they last 10 years, they’ve lost B-21, F-47, and if the reports are correct, F/A-XX, too, so they are completely shut out of the 6th generation market. Who knows what a desperate company will do? That’s how we ended up with Grumman canoes and mail trucks….

Publicly, Northrop-Grumman appears more interested in the commercial realm, with its collaboration with JetZero on their blended-wing-body concept. If that works (30% fuel saving), AND if there is public acceptance of the seating arrangement, there could be a substantial commercial market available.

All that said, I’m sure that nobody would seriously entertain doing anything at this point. China stopped buying US planes last week, and selling in Europe is looking challenging as well. There’s no way you could make a commercial airplane profitable selling just to the US carriers, so Trump has killed the US commercial aircraft industry…..for now.

Z4 is kinda neat

JetZero seeks comfy cabins, fuel efficiency with blended wing design | PaxEx.Aero

The JetZero team believes it can deliver a truly revolutionary product, more spacious for passengers and more efficient for airlines. But, also, a notable lack of windows on board.

paxex.aero

Flying international, the window seats are generally useless anyways.

 

[Russell Jaslow]

Who knows what a desperate company will do? That’s how we ended up with Grumman canoes and mail trucks….

Grumman was making canoes and mail trucks looooooooooooooooong before they stopped making the F-14 Tomcats. Loooooooooooooong before. I know, I used to work there (back when they built the experimental forward swept wing plane for the Air Force).

Grumman's desperation after losing the next Navy fighter jet contract was to sell to Northrup, not to build canoes and mail trucks, which they were already doing for a looooooooooooooong time.

 

[Kepler]

K2-18b, come on down.