Boeing’s Dreamliner dream run with the US media is well and truly over.
After rumblings in the financial media a month ago after the company was compromised by promising a first flight of the 787 prototype by 30 June and then cancelling it with only days to go after revealing it had broken a wing/body joint in a static test late in May the larger scale American media has zeroed in on the problems confronting a management that is unable to say anything without being caught out.
Today’s report in USA Today is the mega-circulation turning point made inevitable after earlier disclosures in The Seattle Times exposed more of the awful truth about the latest Dreamliner glitch to Boeing’s home state audience in Washington.
The sad thing about the general and technical media’s lazy complicity with the Boeing PR machine is that it has been counter productive. The gullibility of the reporting of this program in the most part overlooked the opportunity to throw a harsh light on the discrepancies between what was being promised and what was happening, or not happening that could have in turn forced Boeing to confront the real issues.
That is, the project is poorly managed, the jet, so far, is a dog, there is no evidence of the weight or efficiency savings promised in its operations, there is no sign of the streamlined lower cost manufacturing processes, and there hasn’t been a single correct forward looking statement from the company in relation to its progress or lack of it since at least the middle of 2007.
USA Today has also touched on the wider issues. Boeing is a sick outfit in terms of projects. The Australian Wedgetail airborne early warning and command program is vastly over budget and timetable, although at least from the ADF perspective, no more money is being paid to Boeing for those aircraft until they prove they are worth being accepted. The 748 freighter and passenger program is running late. Boeing is now performing a pike and double twist over the US air force in-flight tanker replacement program by reversing its stance about the suitability of the 777 as an alternative candidate for the the contract compared to the 767, which the USAF found to be inferior to the Airbus A330.
The history of Boeing media this decade has been one of huffing and puffing over Airbus, rather than materially meeting the competition. These campaigns of misinformation included the original Sonic Cruiser proposal which was supposed to make the A380 irrelevant, followed by a campaign which no airliner other than Lufthansa took seriously, which proposed that a final version of the 747 could be built that would outperform the giant Airbus. The jet, the 748, is also running about 18 months late, and the original claims made for it look at the very least questionable.
The illustrious achievements of Boeing in the past, including the 777, are not in doubt.
But their betrayal and ruination by incompetency are undoubted. These are grievously serious times for Boeing, and spin doctoring and media indifference have finally run their course.
8 Comments
The bizarre thing is that, despite the 787 turning out to be a complete fiasco, there have been very few cancellations of orders. All Nippon Airways has 55 on the books. Qantas still has 50 on order.
Has everyone seen the Dan Rather documentary detailing safety issues with the 787? It’s about two years old now, but if you have a spare hour, go to YouTube and type ‘Dan Rather 787′ into the search field. The 787 doco is in 4 fifteen minute parts.
I think there’ll be more books and television reports to come about the 787, and airlines will have to deal with the shattering of public confidence that brings.
Is this version more structurally sound?
http://shop.lego.com/Product/?p=10177
The version of the 787 that still excites optimism in airline circles is the -9, which is strongly rumoured to be a significant redesign of as well as refinement of the initial -8 version.
Qantas has been promised -9s, which allow more seats and a longer range, for delivery from mid-2013. That promise won’t be honoured. But if all of the issues with the -8 are overcome then there is still a chance that the Dreamliner will come good in the second half of the next decade.
I’ve had a good look at the cabin mock-up and some of the other possibilities for the -9 in Seattle but that was four years ago, when everything looked so fine. The munging up of this program, which we were assured was based on mature, no surprises technology, continues to shock.
Regarding the media “huffing and puffing over Airbus, rather than materially meeting the competition,” that is just another example of the media following Boeing unquestionably. Almost every major Airbus innovation has been met by Boeing-led derision, poo-pooing it then attacking it then – years later – adopting it.
sbr
Well Lego has a lot more experience in all-plastic structures
Direct from the “art imitates life” file…
The office sports several dozen display models of various clients’ aircraft and liveries. More than two years ago I received a Lego 787 model in Boeing colors as gag gift.
I found to my surprise and disappointment when assembling the plastic fantastic scale model that it was missing several strategically significant wing-to-body join fasteners.
When contacted for replacements, the Lego folks apologized profusely and said to expect a several week delay, as these particular parts were on global backorder.
Lego’s apology and pledge was repeated several more times over a period of months, as the 787 model languished, flightless, collecting dust and coffee spatter in the office break room.
While Lego did eventually come through with the parts, after completing assembly I determined to my shock and horror that the 787 model was overweight, requiring extensive rework to the display rigging. All the while, the office fleet plan display was left in complete disarray.
Thus I have reluctantly been forced to file claim with Lego for $710 million dollars, and to cancel orders for other narrow- and widebody equipment.
“I found to my surprise and disappointment when assembling the plastic fantastic scale model that it was missing several strategically significant wing-to-body join fasteners.”
Heheheee! Good to see Lego making truly accurate models.
“Qantas has been promised -9s”
It’s a worry to me that Qantas also has 15 of the early 787-8 models on order.
Boeing spinning out of control.
Yes, it took the press a long time and some to realise that they were led down the garden path. Boeing’s indecent haste to beat the Airbus 380 at any price led to utopian performance data and dreamtime delivery promises for its “revolutionary” Dreamliner. Boeing’s modus operandi became very obvious in June this year. With only 2 orders received at the Le Bourget air show worth 198 million dollars compared to Airbus’s 4.6 billion haul, it cooked up the Dreamliner’s imminent test flight knowing damn well it could not fly to drown out that fiasco. To make absolutely sure only their message was heard globally it sent out press releases at the end of June showing the Potemkin wonderplane rolled out at Everett to a 2007 audience hoping to convince customers and public alike that everything was on track. Well, lying did not work for Airbus with its A 380 delay and it won’t work for Boeing either.