Return to 2000: Captain of the Great Powers

Just as Japan’s Ministry of Transportation and Communications ANA flight 45 hearings were underway, the United States on the other side of the ocean was still at [-]:[-] p.m. on September [-].

Even though it was almost ten o'clock in the evening, the top floor of the Boeing headquarters building was still lit. For Americans who value working hours very much, it is indeed rare to work overtime until late at night, especially for the leadership.

The reason why Boeing looks like an enemy is that Airbus not long ago revealed the research and development project of a new generation of twin-engine wide-body aircraft.

In a small conference room, Boeing President Lance Tamer is drinking coffee. In the center of the room, Boeing’s Chief Information Officer, CIO Ferris Hayes, is reporting the latest collected information to Lance Tamer. .

"According to the limited information we have now, EADS and BAE have approved the relevant research and development project and named it A350." Fries Hayes said.

Lance Tamir turned his back to Frith Hayes, and said in a low voice, "But there has never been any relevant information before, which means it was decided recently. Doesn't this seem too sudden?"

"It should have been decided recently. Before this, there was never any information about the A350 or similar projects. Generally speaking, Airbus's wide-body aircraft should focus on the A380 at this stage. According to their aviation hub plan, As the top mode of transportation, shouldn’t the A380 be the main force? Then where is the positioning of the A350? Isn’t this contrary to their aviation hub plan?”

"In our prediction, the four-engine large airliner has come to an end, but Airbus doesn't think so." Lance Tammy frowned: "Or, Airbus has changed its mind and thinks that the four-engine wide-body aircraft has also developed. We have come to a dead end, but the A380 has just been used in commercial aircraft, and the overspend has more than doubled, so we changed our mind so quickly, so the previous 200 billion US dollars was not spent in vain?"

The A380 project has just been commercialized, that is to say, this project has not actually produced any income, and when the project is seriously overrun, it immediately announced another twin-engine wide-body aircraft project. Does Airbus have so much spare money? ?

Lance Tammy didn't think so.

If Airbus was really so rich, the rotten and stinking Airbus stock price would not be so sour now, and Airbus would have already rescued itself.

"Perhaps, the A350 is not the benchmark 747, nor is it a derivative of the A380, but the benchmark 787?"

Lance Tamil turned around suddenly: "They think the 330 can't handle the 787?"

"Isn't this obvious?" Fries Hayes said with a smile: "Now some airlines even cancel the original A330 procurement plan, and instead purchase the 777 as a transitional product of the 787. Nowadays, the speed is fast. Weight and weight are not the most important criteria in the market, and operating costs are the golden rule. Judging from the 787 order feedback, the path we chose on the wide-body aircraft is undoubtedly more correct."

In the prediction of the future direction of the wide-body aircraft market, Airbus and Boeing have completely different views.

Airbus believes that the wide-body aircraft market is still in a period of rapid growth, and faster and larger aircraft are the most important criteria.The result of this cognition is the A380, the largest civil aviation airliner in history.

However, Boeing believes that the super-large four-engine airliner has reached the ceiling, and even Boeing itself has begun to give up upgrading the 747.In Boeing's market forecast analysis, they believe that as the main body of aircraft purchases, the criteria for judging airlines' operating costs are the most important.

Under the premise of taking into account sufficient capacity, the airline's operating costs should be reduced as much as possible. Such aircraft are the airlines' favorite.

Judging from the current performance, the Boeing 787 is naturally better than the A380, and even the Boeing 787 has also driven the sales of some other Boeing models.However, the reason for the A380's hip pull is still due to Airbus's own mistakes, which have not yet been tested by the market in a strict sense.

However, the major mistakes made by the A380 in the launch of the first aircraft have seriously affected market confidence. If the market does not perform well in the future, this largest civil aviation airliner in history with an investment of more than 250 billion US dollars may become a huge joke.

"If it is to replace the A330 and benchmark the 787, it seems to make sense. However, I don't think they can come up with any aircraft to match the advantages of the 787."

The 787 is called the Dreamliner, and it is the pinnacle of Boeing's twin-engine wide-body aircraft. Even Airbus, Lance Tammyr does not think that Airbus can come up with corresponding products.Not to mention, Boeing has always had an advantage in wide-body aircraft.

"They are currently in trouble at home and abroad. If the A350 project is not successful, they may completely withdraw from the field of wide-body aircraft in the future." Lance Tamer said with a smile: "Do you have any news about this aircraft?"

"In terms of news." Fries Hayes whispered: "The only thing we know now is that this aircraft may use composite materials on a large scale."

"Adopt composite materials on a large scale?" Hearing this sentence, Lance Tamil was stunned for a moment, and then laughed loudly: "As far as Airbus technology is concerned, they can play with composite materials, ah? Why is the 320 so Too many discharge brushes, they don't know what to do?"

The Boeing 737 and the Airbus 320 are two products with almost identical positioning, but the Airbus 320 has far more discharge brushes than the Boeing 737. The reason for this difference is that the Airbus 320 uses more composite materials , and the conductivity of the composite material is very poor, so more discharge brushes are needed to discharge the charge.

However, even if it is equipped with more discharge brushes, it still cannot solve the situation that the Airbus 320 is more vulnerable to lightning strikes.

If a Boeing 737 and an Airbus 320 are flying next to each other, and a bolt of lightning strikes, it must strike the Airbus 320.

This "lightning rod" physique is also a major aspect of the Airbus 320 being criticized by the industry.

The Airbus 320, which only uses some composite materials, is already like this. If, as Fries Hayes said, a larger proportion of composite materials are used on the A350, once it comes to a thunderstorm, then the A350 must be the most beautiful in the sky. Cub, almost all the lightning in an area greets it alone, which belongs to sacrificing oneself and illuminating others.

Of course, this is just a joking statement.If the aircraft encounters a large number of lightning strikes, it will definitely cause great damage to the airframe, especially the electronic system.No airline wants to buy a plane that is constantly struck by lightning.

Adding more discharge brushes can indeed alleviate some of the problems, but this is a means to solve the symptoms rather than the root cause.Airbus 320’s composite material ratio is not too high, and it can still do so. If the Airbus 350’s composite material increases greatly, it’s hard to say whether the discharge brush will work well.

In an extreme point, even if the discharge brushes work well, it is foreseeable that the number of discharge brushes required will be extremely alarming.If the plane is full of discharge brushes, to be honest, from a purely aesthetic point of view, it is simply a disaster-like design.

However, the Boeing 787 actually uses a lot of composite materials, which also faces the problem of poor electrical conductivity of the fuselage.

However, Boeing, which has more technical reserves, has solved the conductivity problem with too many composite materials.

In fact, although composite materials have many advantages, there are correspondingly many problems. In addition to the conductivity problem, the damage detection method is also a headache.

Most of the fuselages are now made of metal materials, such as aluminum alloy.

The metal material is heavy, but it has a characteristic, that is, it will deform if it is smashed.

For example, if a metal fuselage is struck by a bird, a dent will be formed on the fuselage.However, if the fuselage made of composite materials is hit by a bird, the sunken fuselage may rebound automatically. If you check it visually, there will be no trace of damage to the fuselage.

In daily inspection, for example, when passing a station, most of them use visual inspection.If the problem of damage detection of composite materials cannot be solved, then this is actually a huge safety hazard.

For aircraft manufacturers, composite materials are of course good, and can greatly reduce the weight of the aircraft, but for maintenance, it is an extremely headache in terms of inspection and maintenance.

Airplanes are not only used once, and airlines also have to consider maintenance costs.If Airbus cannot solve many problems derived from composite materials, it will be greatly discounted in the hearts of airlines.

Therefore, judging from the information obtained so far, Lance Tamil is not optimistic about the project of this model.

"Maybe this was the last straw that broke the Airbus widebody project." Lance Tammy laughed.

The A380 project did not get off to a good start, but it has already cast a shadow over the project.If the A350 project also collapses, then Airbus will fall twice in a row on wide-body aircraft, basically saying goodbye to the field of wide-body aircraft.

In the future, Boeing will still dominate the field of wide-body aircraft.

"However, there is one thing I am very concerned about. With the current financial situation of Airbus, can they squeeze out money for the development of new models? If they really have so much money, shouldn't they save their own company's stock price first? ?” Lance Tammy wondered.

"It seems to say that Airbus has found new investment in the research and development of new models, and Airbus does not need to invest money. However, correspondingly, Airbus should promise certain conditions."

Lance Tamil laughed and said: "This is the best. Airbus is a gambler who is eager to lose. Let them keep adding weight and lose all their wealth in the end. By the way, for the postponement of the A380 What about body suits?"

"Those airlines hope to hire Disney's legal team through us. In addition, in order to deal with possible retaliation by Airbus, they expect us to have a higher priority in the delivery of aircraft in the future."

"Disney's legal team?" Lance Tammy smiled knowingly.

Disney's legal team is known as the strongest legal team on the planet, and black people can say it is white, not to mention that Airbus is completely responsible for the A380 matter. ?

In addition, with regard to obtaining priority in the delivery queue on Boeing aircraft in the future, this is what Boeing has promised before.Otherwise, if Airbus is sued, and Airbus gets angry in the end, and there will be many embarrassments in aircraft sales in the future, wouldn't it be embarrassing?
So Boeing has to make some concessions on this.

The ordering of aircraft delivery is not free of cost, but involves real benefits, and some people use money to buy seats in order to occupy a better position in the order.The promise of a more favorable order for future aircraft deliveries to those airlines is a real concession of interest.

However, Boeing is definitely willing to step on the current Airbus trough.

Boeing has dealt with Disney's chief lawyer before and can act as an intermediary, which is not difficult.

"Speaking of Airbus, Xu Cang's bearishness on Airbus mentioned earlier has finally come true." Lance Tamil said in amazement: "Some time ago, this kid borrowed a lot of air from a brokerage. Airbus’s stock, and now that Airbus’s stock price is plummeting, he’s probably made a lot of money.”

Mentioning this matter, Fries Hayes had a look of excitement on his face: "Lance, Airbus is now in stock."

Unlike many people who call Lance Tamil's surname, Fries Hayes changed his name to Boeing's president, which shows that the two have a good relationship in private.

Apparently, Lance Tammy understood what Ferris Hayes meant.

With the success of the Airbus 320 series and the A380's momentum for a while, the stock price of Airbus is much higher than that of Boeing, which is actually a bit inflated.Although it has fallen a lot now, it is still higher than Boeing. In other words, in Fries Hayes' view, there is still a lot of room for decline.

Since Xu Cang can make a lot of money from the fall of Airbus's stock price, why can't Boeing?

Moreover, the most direct thing is that the new twin-engine wide-body aircraft project A350 released by Airbus looks like a fool who started in a hurry.Now Airbus is dizzy because of the setbacks of the A380, and the Boeing 787 is chasing after it. In order to restrain the impact of the Boeing 787, it hastily launched the competing A350.

However, such an approach is actually quite inappropriate.

Actions from above that are not under rational argument are likely to lead to failure.

What is clear is that Airbus should not be able to accept another failure.

"I know." Lance Tamir sneered and said, "It seems that they were really cornered by 787, and they tried some stupid tricks."

Don't look at how much Boeing's president is mocking Airbus' launch of the A350 project, but when Airbus launches the A320Neo later, Boeing will not rush to launch the 737Max.In order to be able to fight against the A320Neo, the 737Max was launched in a hurry, leaving a lot of problems.

Therefore, history is a cycle, and there are never any lessons, only human nature.

However, regardless of Boeing's big stumble on the 737Max, at least from the current point of view, Boeing seems to be sitting on the Diaoyutai, condescendingly overlooking the flying Airbus, and it may be able to reap a wave.

In fact, not only Fries Hayes, there are already voices of harvesting Airbus inside Boeing.

After the acquisition of McDonnell Douglas, McDonnell's gang quit the industry and stared at stocks all day long, and gradually affected Boeing's decision-making level.Airbus is in such a bad state now, I feel sorry for myself if I don't reap a harvest.

"Fries, are there a lot of people around who hope to harvest Airbus?" Lance Tamil asked, "I remember you were not like this before, and you shouldn't ask this question."

Fries Hayes was born as an engineer and was directly involved in the design of the 737 series of aircraft. He should be a person who pursues industrial economy.However, people like this have begun to care about capital manipulation, and even brought it up in front of themselves.

Fries Hayes looked embarrassed and cleared his throat: "As far as we know, Airbus has no recent news about new technological breakthroughs. It is foreseeable that the so-called A350 is just a pile of old technologies. The ending is doomed. As long as the A350 shows signs of failure, Airbus will be hit hard in the wide-body aircraft market, and its stock price will plummet again. In the past ten years, due to the success of the 320 series, the capital market has become more and more interested in Airbus. The valuation of Airbus is too optimistic, and it is possible for Airbus’s stock price to fall by 60.00%. This difference in stock price has great room for us to operate.”

"So, you still think that finance is better than industry?" Lance Tamil suddenly sighed and looked at Fries Hayes.

Ferris Hayes was silent, apparently refusing to answer the question.

However, this attitude is already very telling.

That’s right, how much money do you earn from doing business?A big move by those financial institutions on Wall Street is enough for Boeing to sell hundreds of planes for profit, and it is the nature of capital to seek profit. Even if Boeing started as an industry, can you not be tempted to see those capital institutions so crazily swallowing money?
Didn't McDonnell Douglas, an industrial giant, just couldn't stand the temptation and began to put more and more energy on capital operations, which caused his own aircraft industry to become more and more stretched?

After annexing McDonnell Douglas, Boeing is undoubtedly following the old path of McDonnell Douglas.

Even Fries Hayes, who is an engineer and has the spirit of the old Boeing, is beginning to have such emotions, which is actually a very bad sign.

"Lance, after calculation, we can reap more profits from Airbus capital operations than selling 130 Boeing 737s. We don't have to work hard to manufacture, we don't have to do audits, we don't have to pay attention to after-sales, we just need to click our fingers , you can get such a huge profit in an instant, why not do it?"

Fries Hayes' rhetorical question directly left Lance Tamier speechless.

Yeah, why not do it?

With such ease and huge profits, why not do it?

"But, if Boeing loses its aviation manufacturing industry, is it still Boeing?" Lance Tammy said in a daze.

"Lance, there are only Airbus and Boeing in this world now. We have divided the cake in the trunk liner market, and no other players will enter the market. What we need to do is not to keep improving, but to eliminate new ones. Just the entrants.” Fries Hayes looked at Lance Tamil and said: “The board of directors wants more profits, and the aircraft business doesn’t seem to be able to meet that demand. In the current trend of the times, finance is the fastest way to make money aisle."

Lance Tamil didn't know what to say for a while, and in the end he could only sigh softly, but he didn't know what he was sighing.

Fries Hayes didn't say anything more about Airbus's capital harvesting, and Lance Tamer didn't object, which is actually acquiescing. Continuing this topic will undoubtedly hurt Lance Tamer's heart.

Lance Tamil was a conservative through and through at all times.At the beginning, when Boeing acquired McDonnell Douglas, Lance Tammy clearly expressed his opposition.At that time, he thought that McDonnell Douglas was already rotten, and the acquisition of McDonnell Douglas would only infect Boeing and rot together.

Maybe many Boeing executives who have accepted McDonnell Douglas' ideas don't think so, but from the current point of view, Lance Tammy's prediction is coming true step by step.

If the way is different, it is too much to say too much.

After immersing in the strange silence in the room for a long time, Fries Hayes changed the subject: "Our parts partners have begun to complain about the 757 more intensively. Regarding the 757, what is the attitude of the headquarters? As far as I know, Has there been no new order for a long time?"

"Are they trying to completely shut down the 757 parts processing line?" Lance Tammy asked.

"Yes, there are no more orders for the 757, but they still need to maintain the relevant production lines. Due to the cooperation agreement with us, they cannot shut down the relevant production lines. They can only dismantle them if we announce the suspension of production." Hayes asked: "Of course we can bind them with an agreement, but I think maybe we should listen to their opinions on this matter. The 757 has no future, so it's better to push the boat along and give those parts suppliers a favor. No. Say, is the board already coordinating the shutdown of the assembly line?"

"The suspension of production of the 757 has indeed entered a substantive stage of advancement, but the production line of related parts cannot be dismantled, and we must wait for the board of directors to make it clear."

Suddenly, Ferris Hayes asked a question: "What if someone wants to buy the 757 production line?"

"What should I do? Don't sell it!" Lance Tamil hardly thought about it: "Even though the 757 has failed in the market, it still has many good technologies in terms of engineering technology. This kind of thing can be sold." , We haven’t reached the point where we are short of money.”

Fries Hayes just asked casually: "I understand. As for the parts suppliers, I will explain it to them."

"That." Lance Tamil added: "Although the production of the 757 cannot be discontinued according to their wishes, there is no need to make things too rigid. You can reveal it in private. It will not be long before the production of the 757 is discontinued. Yes, just let them wait for a while."

In both positions, Boeing is definitely taking the initiative.However, many parts suppliers do not just count on the Boeing family to survive, and there is no need to make the relationship between the two parties too bad.

"By the way, regarding the investigation of the Bombardier dumping case, we, as the applicant, need to attend a hearing tomorrow morning."

"The hearing?" Lance Tamil was taken aback: "Where?"

Ferris Hayes said: "World Trade Center!"

Ding Dong!

With a slight vibration of the phone, Xu Cang's phone on the table suddenly lit up, and a message popped up on the screen.Xu Cang, who was listening to the representative of the public reprimanding the representative of Haneda Airport, glanced at the screen of his mobile phone. It was a text message, the content of which was a reminder to change the aircraft type of flight 3102 tonight, saying that it was changed from 737 to 320.

Xu Cang didn't click on the message, he could only see these contents.

However, Xu Cang didn't bother to click on it. Passengers should be notified of the change of aircraft type, which is the business that airlines should do.

Regardless of whether it is a 737 or a 320, as long as it is an aircraft, Xu Cang has no requirements for the type of aircraft.

Compared with the aircraft being replaced, the representative of Haneda Airport was trained to look like a grandson with his head down. That scene was exciting enough.

At the beginning of the hearing, the spearhead was first pointed at the representative of Haneda Airport.

Of course, as the main responsible party for ANA Flight 45, Haneda Airport naturally needs to accept the most blame.Not only the representatives of the public, but the chief secretary of the Ministry of Transport also sent a message to the representatives of Haneda Airport, but the director of JCAB, Ken Nagashima, did not say a few words.

At the beginning, the representative of Haneda Airport tried to refute a few words, but the result was more intense questioning.

The representative of Haneda Airport, who understood everything, finally gave up resistance and just lay down and let the ridicule go.

It can only be said that the top leader at Haneda Airport had foreseen this situation in advance, and directly sent the second leader over. I don't know how comfortable it is to be a coward.

After the attack on Haneda Airport, the representatives of the public suddenly changed the subject and pointed to the chief engineer of ANA who came to observe: "In this incident, there is no need to question the responsibility of Haneda Airport, but whether your company has any responsibility for hijacking?" question?"

The chief division officer of ANA was naturally an observer, sitting in a seat a little outside, and was listening to the attack on Haneda Airport with great interest. He really didn't expect the spearhead to turn on him suddenly, and he was a little caught off guard.

After "I, we" stuttered several times, the chief engineer of ANA finally straightened his tongue: "After investigation, we believe that the crew did not make any major mistakes in handling the incident."

"Oh? Really?" There was a hint of sarcasm on the face of the representative of the public: "We may not understand professional things, but some radical remarks were found among the personnel involved in the hijacking."

As soon as this remark came out, the eyelids of Yukio Nakamura in the auditorium twitched immediately. He was the JCAB investigator in charge of investigating ANA Flight 45 at the time. When the representative of the public mentioned this sentence, he immediately reacted.

As he spoke, the representative of the public signaled to the secretary at the opposite seat to play an audio.

With the surround speakers in the large conference hall, hundreds of people in the entire hall can hear such a conversation.
"Captain, did I open the door?"

"open it!"

"Don't open!"

"What did you say?"

"I say no!"

"But the captain said to open the door."

"I am Xu Cang, first-level flight commissioner of the World Civil Aviation Organization, number 41357, and I am now taking over this aircraft. Listen to my password and don't open the door!"

"Mr. Xu, the purser's life is in danger if she doesn't open the door now. Not only her, but other passengers also have to bear the risk. Should we just watch the people in the back cabin die?"

"Even if everyone on the plane is dead, the door is not allowed to open!"

In fact, many people have already heard the recording.It is also in this recording that Xu Cang's almost cold-blooded tone makes many people think that he is a demon who regards human life as nothing. The tone that is so flat that it can be said to be indifferent is too painful. .

The duration of this recording was very short, and as soon as it ended, almost all eyes in the audience focused on Xu Cang at the table.

And Xu Cang, who was the focus of the audience, didn't change his face, as if everything didn't exist.

The representatives of the public did not immediately turn the topic to Xu Cang, but continued to question the chief engineer of ANA: "May I ask, what is the principle of your company's handling of hijacking?"

ANA chief shuddered all over, he didn't have Xu Cang's psychological quality.

At the moment when the representatives of the people raised the question, most of the eyes of the audience were focused on him again, which put a lot of pressure on the chief of ANA, and the mood that had just eased up became flustered again.

"Our ANA deal with the hijacking is mainly based on peaceful negotiation."

"So in other countries, like the representative FAA, what is their approach?" the representative continued to ask.

The chief engineer of ANA glanced at a certain direction of the observation booth, waited for a while, and then said: "We refer to the FAA's anti-hijacking handling procedures, and stabilize the emotions of the hijackers as much as possible to satisfy them. requirements, including."

"Okay! Even if this is a world-wide anti-hijacking procedure, then." The representative of the public directly interrupted the words of the chief division of ANA, and suddenly turned his eyes to look at Xu Cang: "Then how did you do it? World Civil Aviation Organize first-level flight specialist Xu Cang, No. 41357! This method of confronting the hijackers even if the entire plane is buried with you is your own creation, or was it taught by the CAAC, huh?"