Mike sinnett boeing biography of albert
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737: The MAX Mess
Controlled Flight into Terrain is the aviation industry’s term for what happens when a properly functioning airplane plows into the ground because the pilots are distracted or disoriented. What a nightmare. Even worse, in my estimation, is Automated Flight into Terrain, when an aircraft’s control system forces it into a fatal nose dive despite the frantic efforts of the crew to save it. That is the conjectured cause of two recent crashes of new Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplanes. I’ve been trying to reason my way through to an understanding of how those accidents could have happened.
Disclaimer: The investigations of the MAX 8 disasters are in an early stage, so much of what follows is based on secondary sources—in other words, on leaks and rumors and the speculations of people who may or may not know what they’re talking about. As for my own speculations: I’m not an aeronautical engineer, or an airframe mechanic, or a control theorist. I’m not even a pilot. Please keep that in mind if you choose to read on.
The accidents
Early on the morning of October 29, 2018, Lion Air Flight 610 departed Jakarta, Indonesia, with 189 people on board. The airplane was a four-month-old 737 MAX 8—the latest model in a line of Boeing aircraf
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Archives West Finding Aid
12 video recordings : digital (MOV)
Interview with Robert (Bob) Krull, who was Director of Boeing Community Connection. He worked for Boeing from 1959 to 1995, and his interview charts his first jobs in structural testing, through his move to management, and his philanthropic work at Boeing. He also discusses overseeing the development of ATMs, during the Boeing "bust" period of the 1970s. Interview conducted by Emily Hall.
7 video recordings : digital (MOV)
Interview with R. Blake Emery, the director of differentiation strategy for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, ensuring that Boeing develops commercial airplanes that people prefer. He began working for Boeing in 1983 in the Boeing Computer Services organization. Interview conducted by Sean McKee.
6 video recordings : digital (MOV)
Interview with Dave Wilson about his career at Boeing as a Aircraft/aerospace structures engineer. Wilson worked at Boeing for 28 years, from 1977 to 1994, on projects like the NASA-ACEE program, the development of th
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