Jet Blue NLG pics NICE!

[scottessex]

Here are some fresh pics of the jetBlue NLG strut/wheel assy. :)

[Jazzenjohn]

I was impressed with how well the nose gear stood up to the abuse. I had expected it to collapse.

[Doug Riley]

The strength of the strut IS impressive -- especially when you consider how flimsy the nose gear legs on many of our craft turn out to be.

[Phil_Ruffin]

Scott, what are the odds of you getting that sanded in half wheel and bring it home? :rolleyes:

[scottessex]

It would make a good doorstop for the shop!

[automan1223]

just think about the pavement !

The worlds largest belt sander at lax!

Jonathan

[scottessex]

Outsourcing Our Safety
By Harold Meyerson

Wednesday, September 28, 2005; Page A21

Amid the horrific images that flashed across our TV screens during the past month, there was one last week that stood out because it was so unexpectedly reassuring: that of a supremely competent pilot steering a JetBlue airliner with jammed front wheels to a safe landing at Los Angeles International Airport.

Since last week's landing, though, we've learned a couple of other things that aren't quite so comforting -- for instance, that this was at least the seventh time that the front wheels on an Airbus A-320 have gotten locked in the wrong position.


More surprising still was the news about JetBlue's long-term maintenance of its aircraft. When the planes are inspected for damage and then reassembled, the work takes place either in Canada or El Salvador.

El Salvador?

When JetBlue first took to the air in 2000, rather than hire its own long-term maintenance department, the company subcontracted that work to Air Canada and the Central America-based TACA. It's certainly cheaper: According to a Wall Street Journal story last January, the Salvadoran mechanics make $300 to $1,000 a month -- far less than their U.S.-based counterparts. Roughly one-third of the Salvadoran mechanics have passed the exam that qualifies them for the Federal Aviation Administration's license, while in the United States, such licenses are required for all mechanics employed directly by the airlines.

But such licensed, in-house mechanics are increasingly the exception at U.S. airlines. About half of the long-term maintenance on the planes of U.S. carriers is outsourced, and much of that work takes place overseas, where FAA inspections are a sometime thing. Indeed, the point of this story isn't that JetBlue's decisions are in any way exceptional. To the contrary, by going abroad for work that would previously have been performed at home (and except for maintenance, JetBlue doesn't fly outside the United States), and by prioritizing costs over more closely inspected maintenance, the airline is an exemplar of 21st-century capitalism.

No, the point of this story is that 21st-century capitalism has plunged us into a world of great and avoidable risk. For anyone who wants a clear understanding of this brave new world economy, check out "End of the Line: The Rise and Coming Fall of the Global Corporation," a new book by Barry C. Lynn, a fellow at the New America Foundation and the former editor of Global Business magazine. Lynn's work provides a painstakingly reported, utterly unpuffy look at the modern, outsourcing global corporation and the world it is creating in its own image. Think of it as Tom Friedman for grown-ups.

As Lynn sees it, our age is defined by two epochal decompositions -- that of the nation that sought to steer its own economic policy, and that of the vertically integrated corporation in which shareholders, managers, workers and the community all had a stake and from which they all benefited. "Even as we were busting open the borders of the nation, we were also busting open the borders of the traditional firm," Lynn writes. "The two great economic planning entities of the twentieth century were chased from the stage at almost the exact same moment. So far no one has taken their place."

Lynn pays particularly close attention to such economic wonders as Dell, Cisco, Wal-Mart and General Electric. What he finds are corporations that have outsourced their manufacturing, their back-office work, their research and development, even much of their logistical coordination. Profits accrue less from innovation than from squeezing costs; the number of employees who benefit from the core corporation's increased revenue is greatly reduced; and the vulnerability of these corporations' supply chains to upheavals in distant lands is greatly increased.

There are multiple culprits in this tale, but the primary one is the rise of unchecked shareholder power over the new-model corporation. Today's corporate leader is expected to dismantle and disaggregate his corporation whenever there's a buck in it for his shareholders. The chief executive, writes Lynn, is no longer "the company's man in the boardroom [but has become] the investors' man in the company."

This shift in corporate control goes a long way toward explaining the anomalies of the current recovery -- the first in post-World War II America in which profits have soared but wages have flat-lined, median family incomes have actually declined and few new jobs have been created. What CEO, answerable to his shareholders and fearful of competitors answerable to theirs, would dare give his employees a raise? What would have happened to JetBlue's stock if its executives had decided to employ their mechanics in-house and in the United States?

Lynn posits a range of solutions, including compensating top executives with salary instead of stock and removing the obstacles American workers encounter when they seek to form unions. Absent these sorts of changes, incomes will probably continue to fall. Let's hope no planes do.

meyersonh@washpost.com

[Low'nSlow]

Originally Posted by scottessex
“…This shift in corporate control goes a long way toward explaining the anomalies of the current recovery -- the first in post-World War II America in which profits have soared but wages have flat-lined, median family incomes have actually declined and few new jobs have been created…”

Welcome to corporate America’s brave new world. Of course both parties do the bidding of their campaign contributors, but only one gets the lions share from corporate America. As long as Republicans control all three branches of the government, look for this to only get worst.

It makes perfect sense for the wealthy to back the Republicans; after all, the policies they work to enact are for their benefit (unless they happen to ‘trickle down’ to the rest of us). What's amazing to me that so many lower and middle class Americans support them too. They’ll watch their wages stagnate, watch their jobs sent overseas, watch corporations go offshore to avoid paying their fair share of taxes, etc., etc., but as long as they’re against gay marriage, they’ll keep putting them back in office. It reminds me of someone cutting their nose off to spite their face.

[Doug Riley]

Bingo, Tom.

[Mike Jackson]

I do not believe there is any one solution to the many problems asociated with outsourcing. I do strongly believe, like an incresing number of Americans do, that serious tax reform is way overdue.

If you get a chance pick up a current best seller The Fair Tax Book by
Neal Boortz and John Linder. One is/was a lawyer and the other is currently a U.S. Congressman. You wanna get rid of outsourcing? Bring the MONEY back from offshore. Get rid of all individual and corporate income tax. It won't cure irresponsible government, but jobs and offshore corps. with their trillions of dollars comes back onshore (along with a plethora of foreigners begging to come onshore). America can spend more time on innovation and job creation as opposed to tax evasion, outsourcing, and caring about little more than shareholders and stock prices.

It's a great history lesson and more than just retoric. Presently, the reform bill presented is currently in both the House and Senate. Both face uphill battles with big business and their associated highly paid lobbyists.

[Cobra Doc]

Tax reform is an important issue, but it's not the big one. The driving force behind international outsourcing isn't even cost or profits, though they do have an impact. Tort reform is really what is needed. It has gotten to the point in the US that corporations can not afford the product liability. It's a true catch-22. They can't afford the insurance but they can't afford not to have it. The solution, for now, is to move to an overseas location with either a friendlier legal system or is protected from US court actions. Repair and maintenance in the US is expensive. Until the US courts quit handing out millions to senior citizens that spill coffe on themselves, or teenagers that admit to smoking pot while driving and getting lost on back-trails in snow covered mountains when they should have been on a major interstate. I still don't see how these were the fault of McDonalds or The State of Arizona respectively. Maybe I'm just dumb. I can't figure out how it's somebody else's fault when I do something stupid.

[automan1223]

I had a front row seat to an auto insurance trial this past summer. We were forced to settle after the sham of a trial started to unfold and with almost $10,000 of medical bills plus attny fees and other costs, let me tell you something. Shakespere was right and the time is long overdue.

High profile cases help the insurance industry which by the way, have you ever seen an ins co go out of business ? no they post record profits at or above the oil industry every year. If you did your homework before spouting off you would be embarrased ! Real cases where you or I get screwed every day are burried. Grandma might win some money from one of these operators do you think the headline they print will be "grandma wins one for the little guy ?" Heck no. Do you think ALL people that are forced to court to collect a claim are money hungry bags of dirt ? Do you think ins co's are walking around with halos around their heads ?

They want you to think the system is broken and needs reform, THey want you to get on a jury and hear half or none of the truth due to the corrupt rules of evidence, corrupt judges that are bought and paid for by expensive elections and their cronies that are going to have cases heard in their courts and they want you to think that outsourcing is because of legal crap. Now I have heard it all. You ever read the ticket you buy when you get on a flight. your death will be paid for about a buck a lb if you die in an accident. You think there is some big payout over airline accidents ? give me a f n break jack. Maybe your great grand kids will collect on some check but awards are way down and few and far between. How much of a chance do you think as a little guy you have against a well monied, heavily lawyered company. Your screwed before it starts.

Ins companies pay out less than 1% in claims and litigation. Tell me where the other 99% goes. ? whos kidding who. we are all getting screwed and mis informed people like you are falling for the b.s hook, line and sinker. But I know in my heart there is a good chance before your life is up you will experience and get to see the bs that passes for justice system in our country right now. I pray none of you have to.

Let me give you an economics lesson 101. You make 50 grand a year. People in china and india make 2-3000 a year. Do the math figure it out. they can hire 15-20 slaves for your salary. its as simple as that. Rember that next time you drop a buck at the local slavemart.

Jonathan Weis
Oriental NC