Boeing, Boeing, Derailments, Helmsworth, And More

When asked how Boeing’s recent door plug incident came about, company CEO Dave Calhoun cryptically explained “a quality escape occurred.” That kind of corporate doublespeak is indicative of the problem at hand. Boeing used to have quality, but it escaped, apparently sometime around when it merged with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. - Bradley Brownell Read More

It doesn’t get much more badass in this world than a giant musclebound Australian man wearing leather overalls and a cape astride a seven-cylinder radial chopper with a dirt bike tire on the front with his tiny teddy bear. This singular promotional image for the upcoming Chris Hemsworth-supported Anya Taylor-Joy vehicle “Furiosa,” shared by Hemsworth on Twitter, is enough to prove to me that the film will be only slightly less badass than Fury Road which preceded it. I say slightly less because as rad as Taylor-Joy can be, I’m not certain she can bring the dark gravitas of Charlize Theron’s ‘Fury Road’ Furiosa. - Bradley Brownell Read More

It wasn’t too long ago that people were able to fly from London to New York in less than three and a half hours, while today it can take roughly double that amount of time. Those rapid flights were undertaken on Concorde, the supersonic passenger jet that was retired from service in 2003. Now, a vintage BBC report lifts the lid on the construction of the supersonic plane. - Owen Bellwood Read More

SpaceX, which has previously been sued by the Department of Justice for discrimination, has been sued again. This time, the rocket company is being sued over claims of sexual discrimination and harassment. CNBC reports that Michelle Dopak is accusing SpaceX of underpaying women, failing to promote them and retaliating against her when she complained about unfair treatment. - Collin Woodard Read More

An Air Canada Boeing 777-300ER was struck by lightning on Sunday while taking off from Vancouver International Airport. The airliner was scheduled to fly a 10-hour intercontinental service from Canada’s West Coast to London Heathrow Airport. The Triple Seven continued the flight after the strike and landed safely. Despite Boeing’s ongoing quality control woes, this rare incident shows how aircraft are designed to withstand lightning strikes. - Ryan Erik King Read More

Boeing and Alaska Airlines are being sued for $1 billion in damages by three passengers who were onboard a 737 Max 9 flight that suffered a now-infamous door panel blowout midflight. The suit accuses both parties of negligence. - Andy Kalmowitz Read More

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared in 2014, 10 years ago to the day and it remains one of the biggest mysteries of commercial aviation. Millions of dollars have been sunk into locating the wreckage of the MH370, but search efforts have been futile. Investigators now believe that Gooseneck barnacles growing on the recovered bits of debris from the MH370 could trace a path to the plane’s crash site ending the decade-long search, as Intelligencer reports. - José Rodríguez Jr. Read More

Every single day for the last year, North Atlantic sea surface temperatures have been reading new all-time highs. That is 365 consecutive days of record water temperature. That has to be bad, right? According to Earth.org, it means coral reefs are on the brink of a new mass bleaching event, important ecosystems are disappearing, excess carbon dioxide in the water can’t be re-absorbed, and bad storms and weather events will only continue to worsen. Things are — and this is a scientific term — real bad. The New York Times says scientists are freaking out about it. There are many causes, nearly all of them inflicted by humans. - Bradley Brownell Read More

A Norfolk Southern train somehow crashed head-on into another Norfolk Southern train on the same track in Eastern Pennsylvania on Saturday. Fortunately, there was a third NS train on an adjacent track to break its fall. Two locomotives ended up on a river embankment after the crash, with container cars scattered around the immediate area. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the derailment and stated there are no reported injuries or leaks of hazardous materials. - Ryan Erik King Read More

A 265-pound wheel fell off a United Airlines Boeing 777 after taking off from San Francisco International Airport on Thursday, smashing through a fence and into several cars in a nearby parking lot. The flight bound for Osaka, Japan diverted to Los Angeles and landed safely instead of taking a 12-hour trip across the Pacific Ocean. While statistically rare, this isn’t the first time that a major U.S. airline had a plane lose a wheel within in the last year. - Ryan Erik King Read More