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☆ Boeing whistleblower: ‘They are putting out defective airplanes’
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( Chris Isidore | Gregory Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Washington DC CNN —Boeing’s already battered reputation took another hit at two Senate committee hearings Wednesday on Capitol Hill, with witnesses questioning how the company builds airplanes and the safety of those planes. Boeing did not have any witnesses at either hearing Wednesday, but at a briefing earlier this week it defended the standards used to build planes. Boeing recently said it has searched for records but believes its employees did not document the work. Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/SipaHe said that since the hearing was announced, his committee has heard from other whistleblowers inside of Boeing. “What I don’t want this committee to do is to scare the you-know-what out of the American public,” he said.

Persons: Washington DC CNN — Boeing’s, Sam Salehpour, he’s, ”, Salehpour, “, don’t, …, Ed Pierson, Max, Democratic Sen, Richard Blumenthal, Bill Clark, ” Blumenthal, Republican Sen, Ron Johnson Organizations: Washington DC CNN, Capitol, Boeing, The Foundation for Aviation Safety, National Transportation Safety, Alaska Airlines, Alaska Air, Democratic, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Senate Homeland Security, Governmental, Republican Locations: Richard Blumenthal of, Dirksen, nonunion South Carolina, Alaska, Wisconsin

☆ Safety regulators probe Ford driver assist features after fatal crash
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-19 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Washington DC CNN —The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Monday it has opened an investigation into a recent Ford Mustang Mach-E fatal crash in San Antonio, Texas, where authorities suspect an advanced driver assistance system was in use. Driver assistance features are being hailed by automakers as a way to reduce accidents, but federal safety regulators are concerned that over-reliance on the features by drivers could be causing some accidents. While NHTSA has opened more than three dozen Tesla special crash investigations since 2016 where advanced driver assistance systems such as Autopilot were suspected of being used with 20 crash deaths reported, this is NHTSA’s first special crash probe involving a Ford advanced system. NHTSA typically opens more than 100 special crash investigations annually into emerging technologies and other potential auto safety issues. In addition to the NHTSA probe, on Friday, the National Transportation Safety Board opened a separate investigation into the Feb. 24 crash.

Persons: Jeffrey Allen Johnson, Austin, Ford, “, CNN’s Chris Isidore Organizations: Washington DC CNN, Traffic Safety Administration, Ford, NHTSA, National Transportation Safety, NTSB, San, Honda Locations: San Antonio , Texas, San Antonio

☆ United CEO tries to reassure customers following multiple safety incidents
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-18 | by ( Pete Muntean | Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

On Friday in a United Boeing 737-800 landed in Medford, Oregon, with a panel from the underside of the fuselage missing. Earlier this month, United suffered a series of four incidents, all involving Boeing jets . A United Boeing 737-900ER spewed flames from an engine after takeoff from Fort Meyers, Florida, a United Boeing 777 lost a wheel during takeoff from San Francisco, a United Boeing 737 Max slid off a runway in Houston, and a United Boeing 777 trailed hydraulic fluid leaving Sydney. The age of the aircraft in the United incidents suggest that the cause could lie with United personnel, rather than Boeing’s well documented quality issues. And its fleet of 737 Max 9 jets were grounded for three weeks in January following the incident at Alaska Air.

Persons: Scott Kirby, Max, “, ” Kirby, Kirby Organizations: Washington DC CNN — United Airlines, Boeing, ”, United Boeing, United, Alaska Airlines Boeing, Max, Latam Airlines, National Transportation Safety Board, Alaska Air, FAA, Airbus Locations: Medford , Oregon, Fort Meyers , Florida, San Francisco, Houston, Sydney, Australia, Auckland , New Zealand, Alaska

“The FAA identified non-compliance issues in Boeing’s manufacturing process control, parts handling and storage, and product control,” the FAA said in a press release, but did not immediately provide further details. The FAA said the findings of both this audit and the separate report should be part of Boeing’s quality improvement plan. But in January Boeing CEO David Calhoun conceded Boeing needed to improve its quality controls. Without giving details, the FAA said it found multiple instances where both companies allegedly failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements. The agency is not the only government body looking into Boeing’s quality issues.

Persons: David Calhoun, ”, Calhoun, “, Mike Whitaker, Jennifer Homendy Organizations: Washington DC CNN, Federal Aviation Administration, Alaska Airlines ’ Boeing, FAA, Boeing, Spirit, Max, National Transportation Safety, Alaska Air, NTSB, Justice Department, Alaska, Senate Locations: Renton , Washington

☆ The FAA has identified more safety issues on Boeing’s 737 Max and 787 Dreamliner
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-01 | by ( Gregory Wallace | Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Washington DC CNN —The Federal Aviation Administration has flagged more safety issues for two troubled families of Boeing planes, the latest in a series of issues at the embattled aircraft maker. The issues involve engine anti-ice systems on the 737 Max and larger 787 Dreamliner. But it’s not a solution.”The FAA said the newly disclosed Max issue could cause the jet’s engines to stop working. The 2021 discovery lines up with the company’s order that year to ground some Max planes because of a different electrical problem. A different issue with the DreamlinerLess than a week after publicly publishing the 737 Max notice, the FAA reported a separate anti-icing issue with the 787 Dreamliner.

Persons: Max, “, Mother Nature’s, ”, Dennis Tajer, aren’t, it’s, Jessica Kowal, Boeing Max —, Jennifer Riordan, Kowal, Dave Calhoun Organizations: Washington DC CNN, Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing, FAA, Seattle Times, Alaska Air, American Airlines, Allied Pilots Association, Southwest Airlines, National Transportation Safety, Justice Department, NTSB

The Justice Department review could, the reports note, expose Boeing to broader criminal liability if officials decide Boeing may have violated a controversial legal agreement that was due to expire on January 7, two days after the door plug incident. In the days after the door plug incident on Alaska Airlines flight 1282, an attorney for the families asked the Justice Department to review whether Boeing violated the agreement. Boeing is subject to several other investigations stemming from the door plug incident. The National Transportation Safety Board continues to investigate the door plug incident and recently reported that critical bolts that hold the door plug in place were not installed in Boeing’s factory. The NTSB has yet to determine blame or fault for the door plug incident on the Alaska Air flight.

Persons: Max, –, Dave Calhoun, “, ” Organizations: Washington DC CNN, US Justice Department, Boeing, Federal Aviation Administration, New York Times, Bloomberg, Alaska Airlines, Department of Justice, CNN, DOJ, FAA, Justice Department, National Transportation Safety, NTSB, Alaska Air Locations: United States

Biden and UAW President Shawn Fain met briefly in the West Wing last month while UAW leadership was at the White House briefing senior staff on their positions. Fain has publicly warned that UAW is prepared to strike, saying nearly 150,000 members will strike if the three automakers do not meet their demands. Ford pointed out that it employs more UAW members and builds more cars and trucks at US plants than any other automaker. For the most part, those plants are joint ventures between automakers and battery makers, and thus will not be covered under the UAW contracts with the Big Three. But the union has yet to reach a deal with plant management on a contract, and workers there are paid about half of what UAW members are paid at the Big Three.

Persons: Joe Biden, –, —, ” Biden, Biden’s, Shawn Fain, Fain, Biden, ”, “, ” Ford, Stellantis, Ford, “ Stellantis, Vanessa Yurkevich Organizations: Washington DC CNN, United Auto Workers, – Ford, General Motors, “, AFL, CIO, UAW, Biden, Wing, White, Ford, Dodge, Chrysler, EV, CNN, Big, GM, Workers, LG Locations: Warren , Ohio

☆ US airlines about to be hit with ‘tsunami’ of pilot retirements
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Greg Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Washington DC CNN —The US airline industry is about to be hit with a “tsunami of pilot retirements” that will further the nation’s pilot shortage, limiting flight availability for passengers and putting upward pressure on fares, an industry group told Congress Wednesday. Black’s group represents the regional carriers which provide feeder service for the larger airlines such as American, United (UAL)and Delta (DAL). But the union representing most US airline pilots urged Congress against changing pilot qualification and training standards in an attempt to address the pilot shortage, saying some ideas would compromise safety. The Regional Airline Association, representing carriers that connect major cities to smaller regional airports, noted that the airlines are not the only destination for pilots with that qualification and warned of a significant pilot shortage that will get worse with a “tsunami” of retirements. Senior airline pilots frequently fly international routes, but international rules have an age 65 limit.

☆ New home starts pull back in March
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Anna Bahney | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Housing starts, a measure of new home construction, was down 17.2% from a year ago, according to data released Thursday by the Census Bureau. After surging in February following five consecutive months of falling, March housing starts fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.420 million, down from the revised February estimate of 1.432 million. Single‐family housing starts in March rose 2.7% from the revised February figure, at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 861,000. Housing starts had big drops in May and July last year, when spiking mortgage rates pushed many prospective home buyers to the sidelines. Starts bounced back slightly in August, but fell through January.

☆ Premarket stocks: Inflation just reached an inflection point
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

According to some experts, inflation rates have reached an inflection point and painful interest rate hikes could soon ease. Some economists believe that this level — around 5% — is the point at which inflation is no longer considered an emergency issue. That means the Federal Reserve could feel less pressure to quickly stabilize prices through aggressive, economically painful interest rate hikes. “The Fed … will insist that their job is done when inflation hits 2%,” Ball told Before the Bell on Wednesday. The US Treasury, Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation all intervened to ensure bank customers could access all their money and to attempt to stave off future bank runs.

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