Category: FlightBlogger

You can always count on earnings reports to reveal information that doesn’t always make it into a press release. Spirit Aerosystems released its 3Q earnings report today and they announced the company has completed the upper lobe of  Section 41 for the first 747-8F.

Spirit even threw a small picture right in the presentation. It doesn’t look a heck of a lot different from any other 747-400, but this airplane is quickly becoming a reality.

UPDATE: I have a question that needs an answer – Does the General Electric GEnx-1B engine have to fly on 787 before the GEnx-2B engine can fly on the 747-8F?

I’m working on a bunch of other things this afternoon, but I wanted to keep in touch via Twitter. 

Source: Seattle Times

• New contract is for four years.
• 15% pay raise over the course of the contract, which will come in 5, 3, 3, and 4 percent over the years of the contract.
• Minimum wages raised $2.28. Recent hires will get a supplemental raise to boost them past the entry level for new hires.
• Vendors will deliver parts to receiving areas inside the factory, but machinists will handle parts after that on legacy programs. (737, 747, 767, 777)
• Vendors will continue to deliver parts directly to the 787 assembly line.
• Machinists currently working in facilities maintenance are protected from layoffs due to outsourcing.
• No increase in medical plan costs for employees
• Monthly pension $81/yr service for 3 years, then $83/yr service the 4th year.
• Lump-sum payments: $5000 or 10% annual salary for 1st year, $1,500 2nd and 3rd year.

A vote by the IAM membership could come in three to five days and requires a simple majority (50% +1) to ratify the new contract.

From: IAM751.org

October 27, 2008 – Machinists in Tentative Deal with Boeing

NOTE: Details on the agreement will be posted on the website tomorrow.

The
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM)
announced today that it reached a tentative agreement with the Boeing
Company on a contract that will provide job security for its members
and limit the amount of work outside vendors can perform in the
workplace.

The
agreement was hammered out over a five-day period with assistance from
federal mediators and participation at the bargaining table by IAM
International President Tom Buffenbarger and IAM General Vice President
Rich Michalski. Additional resources and technical support was provided
by various departments at IAM headquarters.

Job
security and the use of vendors were key issues in the strike that
began on Sept. 6, 2008. Among the other issues resolved in the latest
round of bargaining were wage rates, health care benefits for current
and future employees, pension improvements and work rule changes
designed to improve productivity.

Full
details of the 4-year accord will be withheld until they can be
compiled and distributed to IAM members in all Boeing locations.

The
tentative agreement has the unanimous endorsement of the IAM
negotiating committee and will be presented to members for a
ratification vote, which will take place in 3-5 days. A simple majority
is required to ratify the tentative agreement.

“After
52 days of striking, we have gained important and substantial
improvements over the Company’s last, best and final offer that was
rejected on September 3rd. Your solidarity brought Boeing back to the
table and made this Company address your issues,” stated District 751
President Tom Wroblewski. “Each of you stood up and did your part to
win this battle, which was a fight against more than just Boeing, but
against corporate America. Boeing is profitable because of our members’
hard work and by standing together our members ensured they receive a
bigger share of those profits.”

“This
tentative agreement is the result of hard work and great sacrifice by
many people,” said IAM Aerospace Coordinator Mark Blondin. “But no one
deserves more credit than the workers at Boeing, who conducted
themselves with dignity and determination throughout this ordeal. On
behalf of the entire negotiating committee, I want to say it has been
our honor to serve as their representatives.”

The last few weeks, I’ve used Mondays to feature videos I’ve come across to ease your transition into the work week, kill your productivity and infuriate your boss. What can I say? I’m just doing my part for the global economy. I began to feel that including the video in the Week Ahead Open Thread wasn’t doing it justice. So now, Movie Monday gets its own spot on FlightBlogger.

This weeks movie is from ITVV which is one of the best aviation video producers in the world. It’s a plane nut’s dream. They tell you what every dial and switch does on the flight deck of this Cathay Pacific 747-400. It’s almost like I’ve learned something from these videos over the years.

In a statement set to be released later this morning, and obtained exclusively by FlightBlogger, the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), Boeing’s engineers union, is using the specre of leveraging “a thousand possible chokepoints” if “negotiations don’t result in a contract that honors the contributions of SPEEA members to Boeing’s success.”

The comments come from Ray Goforth, SPEEA’s Executive Director, just 24-hours before main table negotiations are set to begin in Seattle between the two parties on Tuesday.

Goforth cited a meeting Friday between himself, SPEEA President Cynthia Cole and leaders of the UNI Global Union, the world’s largest union coalition to discuss the negotiations and plan for international support for the technical workforce.

A message (or tweet), sent from SPEEA’s Twitter feed provided a glimpse into the Union’s strategy and potential tactics for engaging Boeing in its contract negotations.

“Met with representatives from
international unions about coordinating labor actions at global
suppliers in support of SPEEA negotiations,” said SPEEA’s tweet dated Friday, October 24 at 9:01 PM PT.

The decentralized, yet interconnected nature of Boeing’s supply chain, which SPEEA feels should be reigned in and brought back under the operation of Boeing, is being transformed from a point of grievance to a point of leverage by the engineers union.

The late hour of receipt of the statement and publication prohibited a comment from being obtained from Boeing. This story will be updated later today to reflect Boeing’s point of view in the interest of fairness to both parties.

SPEEA’s negotiations involve two contracts. The first covers 13,390
engineers and a second for 6,889 technical workers. The majority of
employees are based in the Puget Sound region, but also cover some
employees in Oregon, Utah and California. Both contracts expire
December 1.

In addition, negotiations for 700 engineers at Boeing’s Wichita facility begin November 13, with a contract expiration on December 5.

On the other side of the country in Washington, DC, senior leadership from Boeing and its machinists union continue to negotiate behind closed doors in an effort to end the eight week old strike that has halted jetliner production in Washington, Oregon and Kansas.

Neither side has released any public statement regarding the progress of the negotiations.

Read the full release (PDF).

Vought today announced that it has significantly scaled back operations at several of its assembly facilities due to the ongoing IAM strikes at Boeing and one of its Nashville facilities.

“In response to the Boeing IAM strike, we have modified our operations and reached an agreement with Boeing to minimize impacts on our operating results, working capital and liquidity,” said Steve Davis, vice president and general manager, Vought Commercial Aerostructures Division. “In addition, we have put in place our contingency plan in response to the Nashville strike.”

Vought Aircraft Industries is responsible for the fabrication of aft fuselage Sections 47 and 48 of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner in North Charleston, SC.

Vought says it suspended 787 composite bond fabrication operations, affecting production and support personnel. Assembly staff has been reassigned to work on existing shipsets closest to completion.

In addition, over the next 30 days, Vought will be reviewing a number of additional contingencies including possible temporary shut down of the entire North Charleston facility.

“This is a challenging time for all of us who support the Dreamliner program,” said Joy Romero, vice president and general manager, 787 Program. “Since the beginning of the Boeing strike, we’ve been looking at ways to mitigate potential employee job loss in North Charleston, including the initial reduction of outside contract labor. We plan to work with our employees to identify temporary redeployment opportunities at other Vought locations, where possible.”

According to Charleston-based sources, the aft fuselage sections of Dreamliners Five, Six, Seven and Eight are all undergoing final systems integration. Work on Dreamliners Ten through Nineteen is on hold as Vought focuses on completing these barrels.

According to the same source, completion on Dreamliner Five currently stands above 90%, the highest level of completion of any aft fuselage section to date. The ongoing IAM strike has allowed Vought to focus on further reducing the level of incomplete work travelling to final assembly in Everett, WA.

Final systems integration takes place in what is known as ‘Cell 215’ at the North Charleston, SC facility, which accommodates up to four fuselage barrels at a time. Vought has fabricated 19 production barrels to date and has delivered four, plus an additional two for the static and fatigue test airframes.

Dreamliner Nine will enter Cell 215 when Dreamliner Five completes final systems integration, and currently occupies Cell 210 where Section 47 and 48 barrels are joined.

Vought’s Nashville facility that handles A330/A340 wing components, the Gulfstream G450 wing, C-130 empennage and wing panels for the Cessna Citation X has also been impacted by an IAM strike of its own.

The employees voted to strike on September 27 and the facility has remained open by hiring additional experienced contract labor and shifting personnel from other sites to Nashville.

Photo Credit: FlightBlogger – June 2008. Dreamliner Five, Six, Seven and Eight at Vought Aircraft Industries in North Charleston, SC.

In August of 2007, I quietly launched a tracking site for the three (then two) 747 Large Cargo Freighter Dreamlifters. The aircraft are responsible for transporting the wings, fuselage and horizontal stabilizer from around the world to Everett, WA for final assembly.

The changes to the blog include an updated tracking metric for 41 different active flight numbers that are assigned to the LCF, as well as a few tweaks to the look and feel of the site.

Each flight is operated by Evergreen International Aviation which is responsible for the Dreamlifters. Flights are split into two categories: training flights and operational movements.

Training flights (EIA4XX) are for crew familiarization/training and flights to maintenance facilities. Operational movements (EIA51XX) consist of movement of 787 structure or returning shipping fixtures.

Since the strike began, there has only been one 51XX flight. It was on September 7 from Anchorage, AK to Charleston, SC. All the other movements since the strike began have been 4XX flights.

Earlier this week, the Dreamlifter (N249BA) flew from Nagoya (spotted) to Portland (spotted) and then on to Charleston as EIA5186. This is the first formal LCF flight in seven-plus weeks. What is currently unclear is whether or not any structure was transported to Charleston. The NGO-PDX-CHS route would suggest that Section 43 and 45/11 for LN9 would be on its way to Global Aeronautica, but I don’t have any kind of confirmation on this.

Any information on the aircraft’s contents (if any) would be very helpful.

According to the FAA N-number registry, Boeing has reserved N747EX for the first 747-8F. The aircraft, serial number 35808, is destined for Cargolux at the conclusion of the flight test program that is slated to start next year.

FAA Registry
N-Number Inquiry Results

N747EX is Assigned

Aircraft Description

Serial Number: 35808

Manufacturer Name: BOEING

Model: 747-8R7

Type Aircraft: Fixed Wing Multi-Engine

Boeing will be holding its 3rd quarter earnings conference call at 10:30 AM ET. It is expected that the company will provide an initial assessment of the impact of the IAM strike, as well as its effect on the 787 program.

Boeing Posts Lower Third-Quarter Results on Reduced Commercial
Deliveries
– Third-quarter revenues declined to $15.3 billion from
$16.5 billion as labor strike and supplier production problems pushed
airplane deliveries out of the quarter
– EPS declined to $0.96 per
share, reduced by an estimated $0.60 on the lower deliveries and by
$0.08 due to tax adjustments
– Backlog grew to a record $349 billion as
near-term demand remains strong
– Updated financial guidance to be
provided after strike concludes

Transcript below the fold.