The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current, November 19, 2020, Image 21

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The daily Astorian., November 19, 2020, Page 21, Image 21

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Newspaper Page TextA5 THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2020 Mike Siegel/Seattle Times Mothballed 737 MAX airplanes are seen next to the Boeing 737 factory at Renton Municipal Airport on Monday. FAA clears Boeing 737 MAX to ﬂ y ﬂ y is at least the beginning of the end of Boeing’s MAX crisis. And yet, even as Boeing grapples with the logistics of modifying hundreds of planes and returning them to the sky, its future is weighed down by the massive ﬁ nancial hit from the grounding and the deep reputa- tional damage from the tragic crashes. As details of the causes of the crash trag- edies surfaced over the past 20 months, Boe- ing’s reputation for engineering excellence has been shattered, while the FAA’s position as the world’s arbiter of safety has been seri- ously undermined. The investigations have opened an unprecedented window into Boeing’s design, marketing and testing of the plane, shedding an unﬂ attering light on many of the participants. A low point came with the release of internal emails that revealed how the chief technical pilot at Boeing Commercial Air- planes had disparaged and deceived airline customers. Speciﬁ cally, he coaxed Lion Air of Indonesia to drop its plan to have its pilots train to ﬂ y the new jet in full-motion simu- lators. Just 17 months later, that airline suf- fered the loss of 187 lives in the ﬁ rst MAX crash. Before the pandemic struck, the expense of building jets it couldn’t deliver had drained Boeing’s ﬁ nances. As deliveries of the MAX resume, Boeing will begin again to see revenue from the jet — though slowly at ﬁ rst. Getting the total of more than 800 grounded MAXs into the air again is a mas- sive challenge. Boeing must help airlines get back into service the MAXs that were ﬂ ying before the second crash and have been grounded since. And it must also prepare for ﬂ ight the MAXs built after the grounding and then deliver them to airlines — many which are in no rush to receive planes during the downturn. By DOMINIC GATES Seattle Times Bradley W. Parks/Oregon Public Broadcasting Ryan LeBlanc installs an antenna on a solar-powered trailer in Moro. Sherman County is using the trailers to help ﬁ ll internet dead zones. Solar-powered trailers ﬁ ll internet dead zones in central Oregon To the southeast of Sherman County, Wheeler County is Oregon’s least popu- lous. It ran into the same issue a few years Sherman County is turning to tiny, shiny, ago when it was trying to bring residents up sun-powered trailers to ﬁ ll gaps in high- to speed. Sage Technologies worked with a speed internet coverage in Oregon’s wind- Redmond-based solar company to devise swept wheat country. a solution that would ﬁ t the terrain with- The coronavirus brought a new sense of out the need for costly power from utility urgency to the long-standing issue of bring- companies. ing rural communities online. What they came up with is a solar-pow- As distance learning, remote work and ered trailer that can be easily moved to telemedicine took root this spring, some wherever the need is greatest. The sun hits Sherman County residents were still rely- a solar panel that charges batteries housed ing on satellite internet or even dial-up, see- inside the trailer. Those batteries power an ing download speeds of 1 antenna mounted to the or 2 megabits per second . trailer’s exterior. The ‘WHEN I CAN FLIP antenna catches signal That’s far below the fed- eral minimum standard from ﬁ xed towers and THE SWITCH, SO of 25 Mbps and hardly rebroadcasts it to homes capable of supporting a in the newly established TO SAY, AND SEE Zoom meeting. line of sight. THE INTERNET Though Sherman The trailers bring the County has worked for strength and stability of ACTUALLY years to upgrade its inter- ﬁ xed towers to homes net system, the pandemic that can’t see them. A WORKING AT laid bare an issue plagu- handful of trailers has THESE PEOPLE’S ing rural communities kept remote Wheeler everywhere. County homes con- HOMES, IT’S ONE “There’s places that nected to the internet for just can’t get internet like years. OF THE MOST everybody else,” said Joe The Oregon Legisla- REWARDING Dabulskis, the county tive Emergency Board in judge. June set aside $20 mil- THINGS THAT I The challenge fac- lion of federal CARES THINK I’VE DONE ing Sherman County and Act money to fund rural areas like it is both geo- broadband improve- IN MY CAREER.’ graphic and topographic. ments. Sherman County Sherman County applied for and received Ryan LeBlanc | owner of Sage relies on a ﬁ xed terres- enough money to buy Technologies in Bend trial internet system, in four solar-powered trail- which hilltop towers ers. The county posi- broadcast internet signal to the surrounding tioned the trailers to target students, teach- area. ers and health care workers who couldn’t In this north-central part of the state, peo- access tower signals. ple often build homes between hills. Trees “This is life-altering to be hooked up to can grow there and the hills help stave off high-speed internet,” Dabulskis said. high winds. Sherman County has had less than two However, those same hills block internet dozen conﬁ rmed coronavirus cases since the signals. Fixed terrestrial internet is a line-of- pandemic began . Its schools have been open sight technology. four days a week with a half-day of distance “If you can stand outside your house and learning on Fridays. Dabulskis knows that see the tower, you can get internet from it,” could change quickly, especially given the said Ryan LeBlanc, owner of Sage Technol- rapid uptick in cases statewide. ogies in Bend, “but if you can’t see it, then “We’re always prepared that if we get a you can’t get internet.” spike in cases and we need to shut down, Connecting homes down in the hollers we’re doing everything we can to be ready isn’t as simple as building more towers. for that,” he said. Those require power, which is expensive Nearby, LeBlanc climbed the side of one and harder to come by in far-ﬂ ung places. of Sherman County’s new broadband trail- “There’s no one-size-ﬁ ts-all solution,” ers to attach the antenna. said Carrie Pipinich, senior project manager “When I can ﬂ ip the switch, so to say, with the Mid-Columbia Economic Devel- and see the internet actually working at opment District. She’s worked on issues of these people’s homes,” LeBlanc said, “it’s rural connectivity for the better part of a one of the most rewarding things that I think decade. “This is really local work,” she said. I’ve done in my career.” By BRADLEY W. PARKS Oregon Public Broadcasting SEVENDAY FORECAST FOR ASTORIA TODAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY Twenty months after Boeing’s new 737 MAX was grounded worldwide following two deadly crashes, the Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday approved Boeing’s ﬁ xes for the airplane and cleared the MAX to return to service. In a statement, the FAA said airlines that have parked their MAX aircraft must make required maintenance and system modi- ﬁ cations to prepare them to ﬂ y again. The agency will review each U.S. airline’s MAX pilot-training program. And it will inspect and issue an airworthiness certiﬁ cate for every MAX Boeing built after the March 2019 grounding order. The long-delayed approval means the MAX is on track to ﬂ y passengers again in the United States before year end. Jet deliv- eries can resume and production in Renton, Washington, will begin to ramp up again, though very slowly. The MAX has been grounded since March 2019, after 346 people died in two crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. Since the ﬁ rst MAX crash two years ago, Boeing has suffered through a relentless lit- any of damning revelations, scathing inves- tigation reports and discoveries of problems that delayed this moment. As Boeing struggles to survive a historic, coronavirus-driven aviation downturn that’s slashed global air travel to a quarter of what it was a year ago, the FAA announcement provides a rare lift. Stan Deal, CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, called the FAA’s directive “an important milestone.” Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said in a statement “the lives lost in the two tragic accidents” and the lessons learned from the MAX crashes “have reshaped our company.” The FAA’s verdict that the jet is safe to CLATSOP POWER EQUIPMENT , INC. SALES • SERVICE • RENTALS 34912 HWY 101 BUS • ASTORIA 503-325-0792 • 1-800-220-0792 TUESDAY WEDNESDAY REGIONAL FORECAST Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. Seattle 51 40 Mostly cloudy, showers 52 39 52 41 Cloudy Cloudy 50 44 54 43 51 40 50 39 Cloudy, rain A chance of rainA chance of rain A little p.m. rain possible Aberdeen Olympia 49/39 49/43 Wenatchee Tacoma Moses Lake 49/40 ALMANAC UNDER THE SKY TODAY'S TIDES Astoria through Tuesday Tonight’s Sky: Deneb of Cygnus is about 15 times as massive as the sun and 50,000 times its brightness. Astoria / Port Docks Temperatures High/low ................................ 62/47 Normal high/low .................. 53/40 Record high .................. 64 in 1908 Record low .................... 28 in 1994 Precipitation Tuesday ................................... 0.45” Month to date ........................ 6.82” Normal month to date ......... 5.94” Year to date .......................... 53.21” Normal year to date ........... 52.41” Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2020 Source: Jim Todd, OMSI Sunrise today .................. 7:22 a.m. Sunset tonight ............... 4:39 p.m. Moonrise today ........... 12:18 p.m. Moonset today .............. 9:05 p.m. Full Last High (ft.) Time Low (ft.) 4:34 a.m. 3:33 p.m. New 4:12 a.m. 3:11 p.m. 4:22 a.m. 3:25 p.m. Warrenton 4:29 a.m. 3:28 p.m. Knappa 5:11 a.m. 4:10 p.m. Depoe Bay Nov 21 Nov 30 Dec 7 Dec 14 7.4 9:59 a.m. 3.3 8.5 10:52 p.m. -0.3 Cape Disappointment Hammond SUN AND MOON First Time 3:27 a.m. 2:24 p.m. 7.4 9:06 a.m. 3.7 8.5 9:59 p.m. -0.5 7.5 9:29 a.m. 3.4 8.7 10:19 p.m. -0.7 7.8 9:43 a.m. 3.4 8.9 10:36 p.m. -0.2 7.6 11:00 a.m. 2.8 8.7 11:53 p.m. -0.2 7.5 8:37 a.m. 3.8 8.8 9:32 p.m. -0.7 City Atlanta Boston Chicago Dallas Denver Honolulu Houston Los Angeles Miami New York City Phoenix San Francisco Wash., DC Fri. Hi/Lo/W 60/42/s 45/42/pc 63/52/pc 73/58/s 65/33/pc 85/74/pc 78/62/pc 69/53/pc 78/71/pc 48/42/s 86/61/s 60/46/pc 55/42/s 67/45/s 58/45/pc 60/44/c 77/60/pc 52/33/pc 86/75/pc 79/62/pc 70/51/pc 80/73/pc 61/48/s 86/59/c 61/44/pc 63/46/s Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow ﬂ urries, sn-snow, i-ice. 49/33 Hermiston The Dalles 53/33 Enterprise Pendleton 44/26 50/32 50/34 La Grande 45/25 51/36 NATIONAL CITIES Today Hi/Lo/W 43/32 Kennewick Walla Walla 49/37 Lewiston 54/33 51/41 Salem Pullman 49/25 Longview 51/40 Portland 50/41 43/31 Yakima 49/30 48/38 Astoria Spokane 44/29 Corvallis 51/34 Albany 51/34 John Day Eugene Bend 52/33 46/17 42/19 Ontario 51/27 Caldwell Burns 43/14 50/26 Medford 50/28 Klamath Falls 42/17 City Baker City Brookings Ilwaco Newberg Newport Today Hi/Lo/W 44/19/pc 52/41/pc 50/40/sh 50/38/sh 50/40/sh Fri. Hi/Lo/W 41/16/s 55/41/c 52/39/r 52/35/pc 52/37/pc City North Bend Roseburg Seaside Springﬁ eld Vancouver Today Hi/Lo/W 54/38/sh 50/31/c 50/39/sh 51/33/sh 51/40/pc Fri. Hi/Lo/W 56/37/s 50/28/pc 52/37/c 50/31/pc 51/37/pc