[Seahawk]

I have no experience with Boeing, so I won't comment,

I did, however, spend 3 plus years at the Sikorsky Factory as the Government Flight Representative managing all flight test and acceptance activity in Bridgeport and their West Palm Beach test facility. I managed QA, other DCMA activities and all the pilots, military and civilian. I also flew everyday.

I also set up Special Depot Level Maintenance (basically rework of older aircraft) lines and was part of an inspection team that tried to fix the Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD) - there were Navy H-60's being reworked there as well as Blackhawks.

I helped write the FAR Clauses dealing with aircraft production, 8210 and 8220 (which are probably on the tenth rewrite) and went through significant Kazan training courses.

Lastly, I managed two new models of H-60, the S and the R, from concept to first flight. Six years.

So, with all that, I can state that FOD is just one manifestation of poor management, there are many others. Production lines reflect the ethos of management at all levels.

Sikorsky was actually pretty good...the upper management was at the factory and my boss had complete access to them. It really helped. Their QA folks were excellent and we worked hand in hand to address any production issues up stream from the flight facility.

CCAD, on the other hand, government run, was a complete mess. The Navy line was over a year late in scheduled deliveries and the fleet acceptance crews would bring Navy maintenance folks with them to completely FOD check every place they possible could. A fleet pre-flight that would maybe stretch to an hour took four days.

Production lines are, duh, very complex affairs that involve the air frame and all the dynamic components to make it fly. The pressure to maintain quality, cost and schedule are ever present.

I have so many stories on this type of stuff. Thanks for the post, btw, interesting video.