Perfectly Normal SOP!

[PhantomTweak]

http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/pentagon-orders-engine-inspections-before-f-35s-return-to-flight-1.496162

Looks like Lockheed is performing up (down??) to their usual standards...

Buy a General or two, get the contract for a new bird they can't build, go into massive delays and overruns, milk the government for as many billions as it can, then cancel the whole thing, leaving the military holding hte bag.../nod
Then move on to the next bird they can't deliver...
Perfectly normal Lockheed SOP alrighty!

Can ya tell I worked for them for a while?

Pat☺

[Webb]

Not really, but I'll bet you've paid taxes.

[Hawkeye07]

Hey PT did I miss something here? I know my reading comprehension hasn't been the best lately but didn't the article just ping on P&W?

"The examinations are focused on a valve regulating oil flow in the engines, which are made only by United Technologies Corp.’s Pratt & Whitney unit."

But I agree that the F35 has been a huge money sponge to say the least and Lockheed can take most of the heat for that. Come to think of it when was the last time
you heard of any new aircraft that has come in on budget? Or on time? You'd think all those design engineers, cost analysis gurus and project planners could come up with more accurate projected costs than they do. Silly me, "cost overruns" is the name of the game. Low ball your projected cost to win the contract then come up with excuses to get more funding. I think some of these manufacturers need to get burned a time or two on their "cost overruns".
We are in a pretty sorry state of affairs when everyone sees our federal government as nothing more than a money teat to be sucked on until it's dry.

Hawkeye

[expat]

Sounds to me like a normal situation with a military aircraft. Having worked on quite a few different front line aircraft, the one thing they all had in common was the number of SI's, STI's, SB's SLT's and EO's they were subject to before each flight.

Matt

[Hawkeye07]

.. the one thing they all had in common was the number of SI's, STI's, SB's SLT's and EO's they were subject to before each flight.Matt

The whats?!


A old friend of mine from NWA works for Boeing now and he has told me some horror stories about preproduction / prototype maintenance. A windshield change that would take two mechs a half shift to complete normally takes Boeing 3 to 4 days because of engineering approvals, spare parts (believe it or not) and mountains of paperwork. This was on the P-8 Posidon which is nothing more than a souped up B-737 for all intent and purposes.

Doug

[expat]

.. the one thing they all had in common was the number of SI's, STI's, SB's SLT's and EO's they were subject to before each flight.Matt

The whats?!


A old friend of mine from NWA works for Boeing now and he has told me some horror stories about preproduction / prototype maintenance. A windshield change that would take two mechs a half shift to complete normally takes Boeing 3 to 4 days because of engineering approvals, spare parts (believe it or not) and mountains of paperwork. This was on the P-8 Posidon which is nothing more than a souped up B-737 for all intent and purposes.

Doug

Sorry Doug, I have been doing this now for nearly 30 years and tend to forget that not everyone speaks my language......


SI. Special instruction
STI. Special Technical Instruction
SB. Service Bulletin
VSB. Vendor Service Bulletin
SL. Service Letters.
SLI. Service Information Letters
SN. Service Notices
ASB. Alert Service Bulletin

And for when it could all go south in a big public fireball type way:
AD. Airworthiness Directive.

And to be quite frank, if you all knew how many of these effect any aircraft that you have ever or will ever fly in, then you would instantly soil yourselves and go by bus...........

Matt

[Hawkeye07]

Sorry Doug, I have been doing this now for nearly 30 years and tend to forget that not everyone speaks my language......


SI. Special instruction
STI. Special Technical Instruction
SB. Service Bulletin
VSB. Vendor Service Bulletin
SL. Service Letters.
SLI. Service Information Letters
SN. Service Notices
ASB. Alert Service Bulletin

And for when it could all go south in a big public fireball type way:
AD. Airworthiness Directive.

And to be quite frank, if you all knew how many of these effect any aircraft that you have ever or will ever fly in, then you would instantly soil yourselves and go by bus...........

Matt

The SB's and AD's I got having worked G.A. for about 3 years but for the others I was clueless. Having done most of my wrench turning in the Navy (as you are well aware having served in the RAF) the terminology is totally different from civilianland. During my tenure at Northwest Airlines we dealt mostly with Engineering Directives and AD's. So I guess most of the other items you referred to were covered by the NWA inhouse E.D.'s. Thanks for the clarification Matt.

[expat]

Sorry Doug, I have been doing this now for nearly 30 years and tend to forget that not everyone speaks my language......


SI. Special instruction
STI. Special Technical Instruction
SB. Service Bulletin
VSB. Vendor Service Bulletin
SL. Service Letters.
SLI. Service Information Letters
SN. Service Notices
ASB. Alert Service Bulletin

And for when it could all go south in a big public fireball type way:
AD. Airworthiness Directive.

And to be quite frank, if you all knew how many of these effect any aircraft that you have ever or will ever fly in, then you would instantly soil yourselves and go by bus...........

Matt

The SB's and AD's I got having worked G.A. for about 3 years but for the others I was clueless. Having done most of my wrench turning in the Navy (as you are well aware having served in the RAF) the terminology is totally different from civilianland. During my tenure at Northwest Airlines we dealt mostly with Engineering Directives and AD's. So I guess most of the other items you referred to were covered by the NWA inhouse E.D.'s. Thanks for the clarification Matt.

Si and STI are from my service days. The average front line fighter has about 20 man hours of them for every flight hour flown I have come across them once or twice since I left the Mob, and the rest........well when I say "fleet check".........

Matt