From: TT (transtigger@aol.com)
Date: Sun May 26 2002 - 08:58:25 MDT
[quote from: James on 2002-05-26 at 01:04:25]
The situation with the spate of Boeing crashes related to the same
subsystems is pretty curious if you look into it. Most of the airframe
designs that have been crashing (like TWA 800) have had decades of
essentially flawless service i.e. these are thoroughly proven system
designs.
What makes the story interesting, and what many people don't know, is that
there is an ongoing FBI investigation into the apparent fact that Boeing has
been the victim of industrial sabotage. I don't know the details of this,
but I do know that the FBI has been investigating the intentional sabotage
of parts both within their own manufacturing facilities and in their
distribution chain, including some parts that have been implicated in some
rather spectacular failures. Mind you, this type of crap is not exactly
unprecedented. My guess would be that it is a campaign being conducted by a
government associated with Airbus (the separation between government and
industry being very fuzzy in most of Europe). It could very well be a
random accident, but if it was anything else, this is what I would guess.
Again, the only reason I'm guessing that this is a likely scenario is that
1) this type of sabotage between European and American business is not even
remotely unprecedented, 2) many of the Boeing airframes that are currently
having \"problems\" are old and proven systems, and 3) the US government has
an ongoing investigation into the apparent intentional sabotage of Boeing
parts at a couple different points in the supply chain with some indication
that foreign governments are involved.
Another fine day on planet Earth,
-James Rogers jamesr@best.com
I could be wrong, but my guess is such accusations of sabotage in this
instance are unfounded and stem from misplaced paranoia. And Airbus could
say
the same, as the 1998 Air China crash was an Airbus A300...
China Airlines had a very bad safety record until recently. It has been
getting better following a top management shake up and efforts from
consultants from Lufthansa. The 'decades of flawless service' have often
been
with well-established western airlines with immaculate maintenance regimes
(good maintenance is the key). I'm not saying that it is the case here, but
it has been shown that when reliable airframes are operated by less reliable
carriers safety can be compromised significantly.
Besides which, if a corporation and/or country were to indulge in such
horrendous sabotage, it would make more sense to target a recently
introduced
aircraft type to reduce confidence in the new currently selling designs, not
a virtual antique. The trade in bogus and sub standard aircraft parts is
well known, but is international in nature and no one country or region as a
monopoly on their manufacture.
I think it is a case of awaiting the results of the Aircraft Accident
Investigation before jumping to any conclusions. But the initial similarity
to
the TWA crash did strike me as curious when I first heard the news.
TT
---- This message was posted by TT to the Extropians 2002 board on ExI BBS. <http://www.extropy.org/bbs/index.php?board=61;action=display;threadid=51958 >
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