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Weekend Beyond Cars Roundup March 16, 2024

Photo: Stephen Brashear (Getty Images), Stephen Brashear (Getty Images), Patrick T. Fallon / AFP (Getty Images), Thierry Monasse (Getty Images), Mario Tama (Getty Images), BRETT PHIBBS / Contributor (Getty Images), Brian W. Schaller / Wikimedia Commons, Screenshot: CboysTV on YouTube, Alternative Flights
Photo: Stephen Brashear (Getty Images), Stephen Brashear (Getty Images), Patrick T. Fallon / AFP (Getty Images), Thierry Monasse (Getty Images), Mario Tama (Getty Images), BRETT PHIBBS / Contributor (Getty Images), Brian W. Schaller / Wikimedia Commons, Screenshot: CboysTV on YouTube, Alternative Flights

Hotel Keycards And Dawn Dish Soap Used In 737 Max Production As Boeing Fails 33 FAA Safety Checks

Boeing hasn’t performed very well at an FAA audit of its production. - Photo: Stephen Brashear (Getty Images)
Boeing hasn’t performed very well at an FAA audit of its production. - Photo: Stephen Brashear (Getty Images)

Boeing is having a rough time of it right now, with parts falling off its planes left, right and center. Just last week, a wheel came loose and smashed through a car, and earlier this year the door from a 737 Max aircraft broke off mid-flight. That mid-air disaster sparked an audit from the Federal Aviation Administration, which has gone far from well. - Owen Bellwood Read More

Ex-Boeing Quality Manager Found Dead After Giving Evidence Against Company

A Boeing whistleblower was found dead in his truck in a hotel parking lot. - Photo: Stephen Brashear (Getty Images)
A Boeing whistleblower was found dead in his truck in a hotel parking lot. - Photo: Stephen Brashear (Getty Images)

A whistleblower who gave evidence in a case against Boeing has been found dead in South Carolina. John Barnett, who worked as a quality manager at the 737 Max maker until 2017, was found dead this weekend just days after he was questioned in a legal case he brought against Boeing. - Owen Bellwood Read More

Put Saw Blade Wheels On Your Dirt Bike To Rip On Frozen Lakes While Ice Still Exists

Screenshot: CboysTV on YouTube
Screenshot: CboysTV on YouTube

If studded tires are good on ice because they dig in to the ice and help the bike hook up on a slippery surface, then surely a saw blade, a tool designed for cutting through things, would do the same job better, right? As it turns out, that hypothesis holds no water. The folks from CboysTV on YouTube found out the hard way, after laser cutting a couple hundred pounds of half-inch-thick steel into the shape of a saw blade and bolting them to the extremities of a Honda CRF250R dirt bike. - Bradley Brownell Read More

Alaska Airlines Engineers Wanted Faulty Boeing 737 Max Grounded Before Its Door Flew Off

Photo: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP (Getty Images)
Photo: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP (Getty Images)

The Boeing 737 Max 9 that had a door plug blow out over Portland, Oregon during an Alaska Airlines flight was scheduled for a thorough maintenance check the next day, according to the New York Times. The carrier’s engineers slated the aircraft to be taken out of service because of several hints at a problem that didn’t cross Alaska Airlines’ established threshold for an emergency grounding, which could have spotted Boeing’s critical quality control error. - Ryan Erik King Read More

United Boeing 777 Gushes Fluid From Landing Gear Before Transpacific Flight

Photo: Thierry Monasse (Getty Images)
Photo: Thierry Monasse (Getty Images)

A United Airlines Boeing 777-300 was forced to return to Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport in Australia after takeoff due to a mechanical issue. United Flight 830 was at the start of a 13-and-a-half-hour flight across the Pacific Ocean to San Francisco. It appears that hydraulic fluid was gushing from the right landing gear strut. If this sounds familiar, another of the carrier’s Boeing 777 planes had a landing gear wheel fall off while taking off from San Francisco on a transpacific flight just last week. - Ryan Erik King Read More

‘No One Can Believe’ Boeing Whistleblower Took Own Life As Police Investigation Continues

John Barnett worked at Boeing for 32 years. - Photo: Mario Tama (Getty Images)
John Barnett worked at Boeing for 32 years. - Photo: Mario Tama (Getty Images)

Ex-Boeing quality manager John Barnett was found dead on Saturday shortly after he gave evidence in a case against the American plane maker in South Carolina. Now, lawyers representing the 62-year-old say “no one can believe” he took his own life when the case was nearing its end. - Owen Bellwood Read More

At Least 50 Injured When Boeing 787 Takes Sudden Dive

Photo: BRETT PHIBBS / Contributor (Getty Images)
Photo: BRETT PHIBBS / Contributor (Getty Images)

When you’re on a plane, you’re supposed to wear your seatbelt even if the seatbelt sign is off. You may be free to move about the cabin, but if you’re in your seat (or the bathroom of a HondaJet), you want that seatbelt on. Yes, the pilots can predict turbulence to some degree, but you never know what’s going to happen. And as Reuters reports, at least 50 passengers on a flight from Sydney to Auckland found that out the hard way when their Boeing 787 suddenly plunged mid-flight. - Collin Woodard Read More

These Are The Worst Airline Passengers Who Should Never Fly Again

Gif: NBC News / YouTube
Gif: NBC News / YouTube

Unruly behavior from passengers has become an unstoppable problem for commercial airlines. Flights continue to be diverted due to passengers attempting to enter the cockpit, aggressively arguing with other people onboard or attacking flight attendants, despite the efforts of government regulators. The Federal Aviation Administration has levied record fines against unruly passengers and referred cases to the FBI, but it hasn’t had a significant impact. - Ryan Erik King Read More

The Last Fastest Ocean Liner Allegedly Owes $800,000 In Back Rent

Photo: Brian W. Schaller / Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Brian W. Schaller / Wikimedia Commons

The SS United States is facing eviction from its mooring at Pier 82 in Philadelphia in a lawsuit filed by Penn Warehousing, the pier’s landlord. The ocean liner has been rusting away in the Delaware River since 1996 but has a storied past. In 1952, it broke the once-highly sought record for the fastest transatlantic crossing, the last passenger ship to do so. The SS United States Conservancy, a non-profit attempting to restore the ship, admits that relocation will be necessary but is still aiming to preserve the vessel. - Ryan Erik King Read More

This Website Lets You Search For Flights That Don’t Use Boeing Aircraft

Screenshot: Alternative Flights
Screenshot: Alternative Flights

Air travel lately has been pretty hellish, and things have only gotten worse now that Boeing and its aircraft have come under fire for their increased danger. But what if there was a way you could find flights that didn’t use Boeing aircraft? Maybe it would make some people feel better about flying. - Lawrence Hodge Read More

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