Juan Browne, Stig Aviation and Taking Off on the Air India 787 Crash

Today he posted this:

When the Air India 787 crashed, I gave you a homework assignment to learn about the systems on a 787, STIG here has very accurately done this for us here. https://youtu.be/-MDjRMkc-cc You will not see this level of detail or research on the clown suit channels. Still waiting for actual data from the investigation. JB. 

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They call it "The Plastic Princess". At 8:37 he goes into details on the GEnx 1B engines which are "full authority digital engine (or electronics) control" (FADEC) and the FAA Airworthiness Directives; The Boeing Company Airplanes. Here is FAA-2015-0936:

This AD was prompted by the determination that a Model 787 airplane that has been powered continuously for 248 days can lose all alternating current (AC) electrical power due to the generator control units (GCUs) simultaneously going into failsafe mode. This condition is caused by a software counter internal to the GCUs that will overflow after 248 days of continuous power. We are issuing this AD to prevent loss of all AC electrical power, which could result in loss of control of the airplane.

You have to power-cycle the whole aircraft every now and then to reset the counter, otherwise there is a risk that it could happen in flight.

There is also FAA-2020-0205:

This AD was prompted by a report that the stale-data monitoring function of the common core system (CCS) may be lost when continuously powered on for 51 days. This could lead to undetected or unannunciated loss of common data network (CDN) message age validation, combined with a CDN switch failure. 

There is also FAA-2016-9436:

This AD requires repetitive cycling of either the airplane electrical power or the power to the three flight control modules (FCMs). This AD was prompted by a report indicating that all three FCMs might simultaneously reset if continuously powered on for 22 days.

So these aircraft have to be power-cycled every three weeks, or there will be problems. 

12:30 A Jetstar 787 had a problem with fuel contamination by biocide that caused both engines to shut down in flight. Apparently biocides are introduced to jet fuel "to remediate microbial (i.e., bacterial and fungal) growth present in aircraft fuel systems".

The biocide was introduced by uplifting 25,000kg of fuel to the centre tank, plus 4,000kg to the left wing tank and 3,500kg to the right wing tank. Owing to differing quantities of residual fuel already present in each wing tank, the concentration of biocide for this additionally-uplifted fuel had to be individually calculated in order to achieve the 100ppm required. The inquiry says a concentration of 250ppm was needed for the left tank and 285ppm for the right. But it says there was “no record” of the actual calculation made, or the dosage used, during the treatment. 

The problem in this case was the build-up of magnesium salts in the engine. 

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Here's a good summary:

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The sole survivor reported a loud bang while climbing which raises the possibility of a structural failure. This is ex Boeing employee Sam Salehpour's testimony on the Boeing 787 manufacture and assembly on 17 Apr 2024. See U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations - Examining Boeing’s Broken Safety Culture: Firsthand Accounts:

6:44 Sen. Johnson "We need more whistleblowers, not only in Boeing but in the airline maintenance departments, we need whistleblowers from the FAA." The CEO and FCO of Boeing were ex General Electric. The CEO at the time was Dave Calhoun who left GE in 2006 and worked for a global Market Research company VNU (which later became The Neilsen Company), and a Private Equity company Blackstone Inc. before becoming a Director at Boeing in 2009. Calhoun stepped down from the CEO position at Boeing in October 2024 and the new CEO is Kelly Ortberg. Brian West is still CFO.

19:38 Ed Pierson is convinced the 737 MAX crashes were not due to the ACAS system but to systemic manufacturing failures.

25:00 Joe Jacobson does not concur. It could be systemic failures in both the manufacturing and engineering design processes in Boeing. Personally, I think the failure is even higher up. Boeing was part of the plan to keep the US economy afloat after the 2008 financial collapse by leasing thousands of aircraft to foreign countries (many of them oil-producers) to run so that the economy would run on burning jet fuel supported by cheap labor abroad. Listen to Johnson on the 800-pound gorilla in the room at 45:18 and the enormous economic pressure to keep Boeing planes flying. Joe Jacobson at 45:52 says it's both manufacturing and engineering.

38:28 More on the excessive use of force in assembling the fuselage of the 787. He says that Boeing's own analyses showed that 80% of the airplane's lifecycle can be lost if these measurements are not done correctly during the assembly. Diagram of the 787 fuselage assembly at 58:09. The problems were in both the forward and aft joints. Taking off reports at 11:44 that the FDR was found the next day, a thousand feet away from the main wreckage and the CVR was found three days later, on June 16, but we don't know where.  Apparently these devices are always in the aft section of the fuselage, for obvious reasons. 

41:50 On Boeing dictating to the FAA, a.k.a. regulatory capture. 

49:31 Ed Pierson mentions that some "wiring fixes" were made after the 737 MAX recertification, and they were in the form of a 343 page service bulletin sent out to the airlines which identified at least twelve areas of the airplane that had improper electrical installation. In manufacturing they had severe problems with functional testing of electrical wiring. Then he mentions then that the AoA sensor on the Lion Air plane had been replaced days prior to the crash.

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President Barack Obama addresses workers at the Boeing Everett factory. (CNN, 17 Feb 2012) 

 

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The fleet was grounded in January 2013 because of Lithium Cobalt Oxide batteries.  This report from Al Jazeera is from 10 September, 2014:

This is a major project by the Al Jazeera Investigative Unit focusing on the 787 “Dreamliner”, the flagship passenger jet of the Boeing Company.

Our journalism reveals the deeply-held safety concerns of current and former Boeing engineers, who in some cases fear to fly on the 787, the plane they build.

We uncover allegations of on-the-job drug use, quality control problems and poor workmanship.

We explore the roots of the battery problems that led to the plane’s grounding due to safety concerns for three months from January 2013.

For more on the investigation, visit https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2014/9/8/exclusive-safety-concerns-dog-boeing-787.

One customer refused to accept planes built in Charleston, because they knew there were problems there. 

33:23 John Woods attempted to force quality control in the South Carolina plant and the management there berated him. He witnessed damaged parts being ignored, papered over and hidden from view. He is worried that sooner or later there will be a structural failure on a fuselage as a result of the manufacturing process there.

37:09 The FAA had a person named Ali Bahrami, whose sole responsibility was the Boeing 787. Bahrami later became Vice President, Civil Aviation at the Aerospace Industries Association. In 2017 he returned to the FAA. Bahrami retired in June 2021: see this Washington Post article FAA official who led safety efforts during 737 Max crashes to retire this month:

The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday the agency’s top safety official, Ali Bahrami, will retire at the end of the month after a four-year tenure that saw the FAA grapple with a crisis caused by deadly crashes of two 737 Max jets.

Bahrami, who returned to the FAA in 2017 after a stint at an aerospace trade organization, had faced criticism from some congressional Democrats over his response to the crashes. Families of victims in the 2018 and 2019 crashes had asked Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to remove Bahrami.

39:05 Obama was a part of it, as was Hilary Clinton. 39:34 despite Obama working for them, Boeing paid no federal taxes in 2013. 

42:44 There's an amazing interview with Boeing executive Larry Loftis who retired a couple of years later in 2015: Seattle Times Boeing executive in charge of 787 retiring; Mark Jenks moves up. The interview is summarily terminated at 44:20 by Boeing's  Communications Director Paul Lewis, who is now a Senior Director Global Media Relations at Boeing, and, according to his Linked-in bio, is only semi-literate: “Paul's resume is chalk full of diverse communications experiences which he leverages to bring holistic thinking to his business partners. He values versatility and the importance of teamwork, taking personal and deep pride in developing those who work for him.”

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On April 2, 2025 there was another Senate hearing with a testimony from Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg: Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation's Safety First: Restoring Boeing’s Status as a Great American Manufacturer. What a great title. Couldn't have been better if it had been written by the Senior Director Global Media Relations at Boeing.

According to the BBC, John Barnett was a quality manager at the North Charleston plant from 2010 until his retirement in 2017. See this article from March 2024: Boeing whistleblower John Barnett found dead in US:

Mr Barnett had worked for the US plane giant for three decades, until his retirement in 2017 on health grounds.

From 2010, he was employed as a quality manager at the North Charleston plant. The facility builds the 787 Dreamliner, a state-of-the-art airliner used mainly on long-haul routes. ...

In the days before his death, he had been giving evidence in a whistleblower lawsuit against the company. ...

At the time of his death, Mr Barnett had been in Charleston for legal interviews linked to that case.

Last week, he gave a formal deposition in which he was questioned by Boeing's lawyers, before being cross-examined by his own counsel.

He had been due to undergo further questioning on Saturday. When he did not appear, enquiries were made at his hotel.

He was subsequently found dead in his truck in the hotel car park.  

The FAA are being cautious about grounding the fleet, because the 800-pound Gorilla has put on some weight since last year. 

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