On Could 14, 1954, Boeing, now one of many world’s largest business aerospace firms, unveiled its first business jet-powered passenger aircraft, the Mannequin 367-80 prototype, at its Renton Discipline plant on the south shore of Lake Washington in Washington state, the place jetliners are nonetheless produced at the moment.
The 367-80 would finally be retired on January 22, 1970 however not earlier than its expertise had been used to create the well-known 707 mannequin – and, later the massively profitable 737.
Initially, airways have been cautious about embracing jet expertise, citing worries about expense and noise ranges amongst different issues. Nonetheless, the profitable check flights of the 367-80 demonstrated the advances aviation had made in elevated speeds and altitudes.
Finally, this success laid the groundwork for Boeing’s 707 aircraft, which was launched in 1957. US airline group Pan Am started common 707 flights on October 26, 1958, signalling the business’s broader acceptance of jet airliners. Earlier than the 707, propeller-driven plane had dominated business air journey.
Boeing’s 737 mannequin was launched in 1967 and would turn out to be probably the most commercially profitable aeroplane in aviation historical past.
Nonetheless, lately, Boeing has suffered a string of technical failures. Most lately, a Boeing 737 carrying 85 folks caught hearth and skidded off a runway at Senegal’s predominant airport, injuring 10 folks together with the pilot, whereas a Boeing 767 cargo aircraft was pressured to make an emergency touchdown following a entrance touchdown gear failure.
Final week, Boeing was pressured to postpone the launch of its new CST-100 Starliner capsule, designed for launch into area, after engineers detected an issue with a rocket valve.
Here’s a timeline of a few of Boeing’s highs and lows over the previous century.
A century within the air – a few of Boeing’s highs
The corporate, which was first based as Pacific Aero Merchandise Co by William Boeing in 1916, was formally named Boeing Airplane Co in 1917, shortly after the US entered the struggle. Through the struggle, Boeing supplied Mannequin C coach planes to the US Navy, designed a brand new patrol “flying boat” and signed a contract with the US Navy to construct 50 Curtiss HS-2L seaplanes.
In 1917, it additionally produced the primary US-designed and constructed bomber aircraft and its Martin MB-1 bomber made its first flight.
Throughout World Warfare II, Boeing produced bombers such because the B-17 Flying Fortress and the B-29 Superfortress. The B-29 Superfortress planes, named Enola Homosexual and Bockscar, have been the 2 plane used to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The atomic bombing prompted virtually 200,000 casualties. Lengthy-term results on survivors would result in radiation illness and such cancers as leukaemia, thyroid most cancers and lung most cancers, as a consequence of radiation publicity.
- Launch of the 737 airliner
Certainly one of Boeing’s most vital contributions to business aviation was the 737 collection of jetliners, launched in 1967. The mannequin would turn out to be one of many best-selling business jetliners in aviation historical past. Practically 12,000 have been constructed.
Through the Apollo programme, which finally noticed American astronaut Neil Armstrong turn out to be the primary individual to stroll on the moon, Boeing constructed the Saturn V’s maiden rocket in 1967. That very same mannequin rocket could be used for the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, touchdown astronauts on the moon.
- Boeing, the billion-dollar firm
Boeing made $1bn in gross sales for the primary time in 1956. It was publicly listed on the New York Inventory Trade, buying and selling beneath the ticker image BA, in January 1978 and is at present valued at $109.5bn.
Which deadly crashes have concerned Boeing planes?
Greater than 100 years after Boeing was first based, Lion Air Flight 610, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 home passenger flight, crashed into the Java Sea 13 minutes after taking off from Soekarno-Hatta Worldwide Airport, Tangerang in Indonesia, en path to Depati Amir Airport, Pangkal Pinang, killing all 189 folks on board on October 29, 2018. An investigation by the Indonesian authorities blamed a mixture of an plane design flaw which had pressured the aircraft to dive down, insufficient coaching and upkeep issues, one 12 months later.
- Ethiopian Airways crash, 2019
Lower than a 12 months after the Lion Air incident, Ethiopian Airways Flight 302, additionally a Boeing 737 MAX 8 and a scheduled worldwide passenger flight from Bole Worldwide Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Jomo Kenyatta Worldwide Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, crashed close to the Ethiopian city of Bishoftu simply six minutes after takeoff on March 10, 2019, killing all 157 folks on board. The identical technical subject which had been discovered within the Lion Air case was additionally found.
The 737 MAX was grounded worldwide as a consequence of considerations a few defective sensor that had prompted its Manoeuvering Traits Augmentation System (MCAS) to repeatedly tilt the aircraft downwards, inflicting it to dive.
On account of the controversy over the design flaw, Boeing’s board eliminated CEO Dennis Muilenburg as chairman however allowed him to stay chief govt.
The Boeing 737 MAX was lastly cleared to renew flights by the FAA in November 2020, after the issue was fastened however Boeing had already been closely criticised by the US Home Transportation Committee for failing to take higher security measures.
What incidents involving Boeing planes have occurred this 12 months?
- Alaskan Airways door panel blowout, January
In January this 12 months, a door panel on Alaskan Airways flight 1282, a Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet, blew out, inflicting speedy decompression and forcing the pilots to make an emergency touchdown at Portland Worldwide Airport. Some passengers suffered minor accidents however no one was killed or critically harmed. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) instantly grounded the 737 Max 9, of which there have been 171 in use worldwide. Unfastened {hardware} was reported in an preliminary investigation.
The incident prompted a flurry of conspiracy theories which have ramped up up to now three months due to the deaths of two Boeing whistleblowers.
John Barnett, a high quality management engineer who labored for Boeing for greater than three a long time, was discovered useless in March 2019. His physique was found with a gunshot wound and a suicide observe in his truck, which was parked in a lodge automobile park in South Carolina.
Two weeks in the past, Joshua Dean, a former high quality auditor at Spirit AeroSystems, a provider for Boeing, died in an Oklahoma hospital as a consequence of a staph an infection that shortly developed into pneumonia.
- Air Senegal aircraft skids off runway, Could
A chartered Air Senegal Boeing B737-300 aircraft skidded off a runway earlier than takeoff early on Thursday, Could 9 at Blaise Diagne Worldwide Airport within the capital, Dakar. Eighty-five folks – together with two pilots and 4 cabin crew – have been on board the flight operated by TransAir and sure for the Malian capital Bamako. At the very least 10 folks have been injured, the transport ministry stated.
Photographs confirmed the broken aircraft at a standstill in a grassy discipline with a broken wing, its emergency exit slides deployed.
Movies shared on social media appeared to point out a left wing on hearth.
- FedEx flight makes emergency touchdown, Could
On Wednesday, Could 8, a Boeing 767 cargo plane belonging to FedEx made an emergency touchdown at Istanbul in Turkey after its entrance touchdown gear failed. Nobody was injured and the crew efficiently evacuated the plane.
- Corendon Airways aircraft has burst tyre, Could
Additionally in Turkey, 190 folks – together with six crew members – have been safely evacuated from a Boeing 737-800 belonging to Corendon Airways after one of many plane’s tyres burst on Thursday, Could 9, throughout touchdown at Gazipasa, an airport close to the Mediterranean coastal city of Alanya.
- Boeing Starliner launch halted, Could
Boeing known as off the inaugural crewed flight CST-100 Starliner area capsule on Monday, Could 7, after engineers detected a problem with the Atlas V rocket valve. The choice to name off the launch on Monday got here two hours earlier than the scheduled liftoff and about an hour after two NASA astronauts had strapped into the spacecraft.
NASA chief Invoice Nelson posted on X. “Standing down on tonight’s try to launch. As I’ve stated earlier than, @NASA’s first precedence is security. We go once we’re prepared.”
Is Boeing’s security document being investigated?
Boeing has been the topic of 32 whistleblower complaints lodged with the Occupational Security and Well being Administration (OSHA), the office security regulator, in the USA through the previous three years
Air security officers within the US are additionally at present investigating whether or not staff at Boeing falsified inspection information for the 787 Dreamliner.
Sam Salehpour, one other whistleblower and high quality engineer who labored for Boeing for 10 years has said he had security considerations concerning the 787 Dreamliner. Final month, Salehpour testified at a congressional listening to with the Senate Homeland Safety and Governmental Affairs Committee concerning the security of the 777 and 787 plane.
He said: “I’ve analysed Boeing’s personal knowledge to conclude that the corporate is taking manufacturing shortcuts on the 787 programme which will considerably scale back the airplane’s security and the life cycle.”
Boeing strongly refuted the claims and said that it’s “totally assured within the 787 Dreamliner”.
