Customer Reviews

Deep Stall: The Turbulent Story of Boeing Commercial Airplanes

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"DEEP STALL" is two books really: First, a nicely written and detailed history of commercial and military aircraft. From the Wright Brothers to the 787 Dreamliner, the authors know their stuff. Tid-bits of interest include the 707's brief designation as the "720" - something I for one never understood. Apparently it happened because Pan Am's president was superstition about an aircraft name with two 7's. To make the sale, Boeing changed "707" to "720" for a time.

BUT READER BEWARE: Deep Stall is ANOTHER book too: a Boeing hit piece. The authors obviously despise Boeing and rarely miss a chance to take a shot at their failures/percieved failures - while all the time treating Airbus with kid gloves. In defending Airbus on the still raging Euro-consortium subsidy issues, they accurately label Pentagon Boeing expenditures on R&D as "quasi-subsidies." But in their anti-Boeing zeal, they miss the boat by also labelling Pentagon aircraft PURCHASES as quasi-subsidies. It seems to me that when purchasing aircraft, the Pentagon is much more like a customer than a subsidy factory. And a finicky customer at that.

They lash out at the 747 as a impractical design that only succeeded because of pure-luck market shifts that its designers could not possibly have foreseen. They trash both the 757 and 767, while giving short notice to the wildly successful and innovative 777. But they save their deepest cuts for the 787 Dreamliner ... regarding the sleek look of the Dreamliner, "the futuristic look of the plane is fine for the drawing board and for Boeing P.R., but this look will be gone by the time of rollout," and, "Boeing's press releases trumpet the plane's cutting edge composite structure, but this is a fallacy. Every commercial aircraft built since the 1970s has included large portions of composite in airframe construction."

Overall - if you go in understanding the anti-Boeing bias, this book is a fine study of commercial aircraft, with a fascinating emphasis on how the ebb and flow of market forces has changed the industry over the decades.

In the panoply of airframe manufacturers the Boeing Company holds special status. Started in 1916, since the beginning of the jet age it has dominated the jet airliner market. In 1985 a passenger had a 75 percent chance of boarding a Boeing airliner when flying virtually anywhere on the globe. It attained that status with path-breaking jet transports--the 707, 727, 737, 747, 757, and 767--as well as a host of variants. Much of this story is well-known, and the authors do not dwell on the details of history, focusing on an analysis of what has transpired since the 1980s and the rise of the European multi-national Airbus Industrie as a major competitor now at parity with Boeing in large airliner sales.

Philip K. Lawrence, the Aerospace Research Center's director at the University of West England, and David W. Thornton, author of "Airbus Industrie: The Politics of an International Industrial Collaboration" (Macmillan, 1995) and professor at Campbell University, present a story of loss of market share by Boeing to its European challenger. Lawrence and Thornton approach this rivalry by noting that Boeing represents a strategic asset for the United States, both economically and militarily. They note that as a leading exporter, Boeing is important to helping resolve the trade imbalance, although there is reason to wonder if this is still as true as it once was since so much Boeing manufacturing is now done overseas. The authors state: "Some commentators in the West now doubt the significance of aerospace, but those in the developed world who are dubious about this should look to the drive in the Far East to emulate the West's achievements in this field" (p. 2). Lawrence and Thornton suggest that it is important for the United States that Boeing remains a viable airframe manufacturer.

At the same time, there is some reason to believe that Boeing may not succeed in this endeavor. The authors contend that when Boeing achieved its near monopoly status as a commercial airliner manufacturer in the 1970s it turned increasingly conservative, both from the standpoint of economic exposure and technical innovation. The authors believe: "Boeing has been inclined to rely on a strategy of cost competitiveness, derivatives development and product evolution, rather than technological advancement, as its favoured way of consolidating market share" (p. 92). This strategy served well for a time, but the continued reliance on derivatives of 737s, 747s, and 767s has become less attractive over time. Boeing might improve the aircraft significantly, the authors believe, but airlines do not crave aircraft based on 1960s or 1970s technology and want more modern and economical airplanes.

In the view of the authors, by coupling Boeing's conservative approach toward aircraft design with an aggressive Airbus that developed a family of more modern jetliners challenging Boeing's products, the loss of market share is predictable. The story of Airbus's A320 is a case in point. In the 1980s Airbus adopted digital fly-by-wire (DFBW) technology for aircraft control, instead of relying on the longstanding mechanical approach that Boeing employed. NASA had pioneered these technologies and tried to persuade Boeing to adopt them, but a combination of attitudes at the company ranging from "not invented here" to "good enough for my daddy, good enough for me" prompted its rejection. Boeing did not adopt DBFW until later.

But there is reason to question if Boeing's technological conservatism has served it poorly. DBFW may be more of a choice than a clearly superior technology to mechanical systems, and there are appropriate rationales for continuing proven technologies. Similarly, Boeing's reluctance to embrace composite structures until recently has allowed it to avoid some early-adopter pitfalls experienced by Airbus.

Lawrence and Thornton conclude with efforts by Boeing to overcome Airbus's ascendancy through World Trade Organization sanctions, since that company is a public-private partnership and receives considerable government funding, and by pursuing an aggressive strategy for its new 787 airliner. The authors believe that this may not be enough in the long run. They also question a series of missteps and questionable procurement issues that damaged the company's reputation and blunted its strategies for success.

Deep Stall does a credible job of outlining the course of Boeing's evolution over the last quarter century. One area not explored in this book, but still affecting Boeing's position, is the attraction of regional jets with a capacity of 30-90 passengers operating on relatively short routes. This part of the airliner market has been dominated by Bombardier and Embraer, but neither Airbus nor Boeing has entered it. Projection of huge growth in this market over the next 20 years--and Boeing's failure to enter--suggest that Lawrence and Thornton's conclusion about Boeing's conservatism may have more to do with strategic business choices than with technology.

This book is about Boeing, but from a european perspective. It covers the entire history of the company from it's creation in 1916, all the way to the beginning of 2005. The writing style is slightly academic but the number of pages is quite limited, so it remains an easy read.

The authors are quite critical towards Boeing. I found this refreshing, considering that the majority of the books about Boeing are usually too favourable. It brings back a sense of balance. Although at times I could detect some bitterness in the tone. Yet the authors remain objective and factual throughout. The other books about Boeing also have a tendency to stay too focus on Boeing and ignore the other players. Not here. Everyone receives a fair treatment.

This book is more about politics and economics than about the technology. On that account I would say that it remains accessible for the educated public. In other words you don't need to be a specialist to appreciate it. All the important milestones of Boeing's history are discussed, but not in great details. We have a little bit of everything, but without detailed analysis. One of the main arguments in this book is that Boeing received help from the government, in one form or an other, throughout it's history. The advantages Boeing derived from military contracts are largely discussed.

One chapter is dedicated to Airbus, the only rival Boeing has today. After this chapter Airbus remains present until the end of the book. That's normal because they share a common destiny. Today the two companies are about the same size, within a duopoly. So if you study one, you also have to study the other as well. That is why this book is so interesting. In other similar efforts the focus is more on Airbus, as seen from a European perspective. Actually it's the first time I come across a book about Boeing as it can be viewed from Europe with a critical eye. Yet it's not specifically a book about the Boeing/Airbus rivalry, like many others are. Anyway, both receive a fair treatment.

I would love to see a revised edition of this book which would cover the years 2005 to 2011. Many things have happened at Boeing since this book was originally published. In the meantime I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Boeing. Whether you are a Boeing fan or an Airbus fan.