Gregory Polek has spent his entire career in aviation journalism with AIN, starting as a proofreader and assistant to then-managing editor Mary Mahoney in 1995 after serving an internship with&nbsp;New Jersey Monthly&nbsp;magazine and completing his B.A. degree in English/Writing at New Jersey’s William Paterson College. By 1997 Polek accepted a position as an associate editor, covering the regional airline beat for&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;in place of retiring industry veteran Don Anderson. The assignment took Polek across North America and Europe to profile regional airlines varying in size and mission from the likes of floatplane operators Kenmore Air and Chalk’s Ocean Airways to regional jet operators such as SkyWest and American Eagle. Today, in his dual role as Air Transport Editor and International Airshow Editor, Polek writes, edits, and manages AIN’s commercial aviation content while overseeing each of the company’s daily international air show publications in Paris, Farnborough, Singapore, and Dubai. Most recently Polek has assumed oversight of daily coverage of the Helicopter Association International’s annual Heli-Expo convention.

Senior Editor

Gregory Polek

The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) has publicly called on Boeing to “face the fact that the global network is a failure and bring the critical work back so the experienced employees can get the 787 back on track.”
SPEEA seized on a report last week in the Puget Sound Business Journal that the company planned to assign full-time Boeing inspectors to some 12 key suppliers to reduce flaws and maintain quality. The appeal comes more than a year after the ceremonial roll-out of the 787 on July 4 last year. Schedules now call for first flight to occur this November. 
“Continued statements that everything is fine with the 787 global supply network just don’t fly,” said Ray Goforth, executive director of SPEEA. 
Boeing fully embraced the new approach, under which it handed subcontractors more responsibility for designing and integrating large sections of airframe and systems, with the launch of the 787 in 2004. Eventually, said Boeing, the process would allow it to assemble an airplane in as little as three days. However, after three separate program delays due largely to complications related to so-called “traveled work”–or work on parts not finished as planned before they arrived at Boeing for final assembly–the first airframe remains unfinished, and it now faces a new threat to projected first flight in November from a possible strike by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. That union, which represents 27,000 employees in Washington, Oregon and Kansas, plans to conduct a strike vote today. 
Not coincidentally, on October 28 SPEEA begins main table negotiations with Boeing on behalf of 21,000 employees in Washington, Kansas, Oregon, Utah and California. Negotiations begin in May for 700 engineers at Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita.

SPEEA Calls on Boeing to Give Up 787 “Outsourcing”

The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) has publicly called on Boeing to “face the fact that the global network is a failure

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