Boeing 787 Fire Update: FAA Launching Investigation
There’s more news on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner today. The FAA:
plans to launch a top-priority review of the plane focusing on its electrical system and quality controls used in the manufacturing process.
You can read the full piece in the Wall Stree Journal here.
I’m not sure what a “top-priority review” is as it relates to a plane already in service, but it’s definitely not good. The article also says that the review is related to other problems in the past but is being specifically initiated now because of the JAL 787 that caught on fire at Boston Logan airport a few days ago.
No doubt there’s been a rocky path for the 787 for quite some time. Years of delays in the first delivery followed by mountains of production delays have given way to operational bugs. I still get the sense that these issues are not overly serious and are not likely to lead to a grounding of the small fleet of delivered 787s. However, it looks more likely there may be delays in deliveries if there are modifications that are mandated by the FAA.
Better the FAA/NTSB root cause and perma-fix the 787 now. Only they can prevent forest, er, plane fires.
stay tuned…thx
hope nothing serious for 787
I like the Wired article observation, which I’ve been thinking before having read it. “And the 777 entered service in 1995, long before the media saturation of the internet allowed close scrutiny of the general public via countless news outlets and blogs.”
PH, there was also a quote about how UA sent out a press release on how bad the 777 was. Now, it’s one of the most reliable planes out there. Here’s hoping for no rash decisions.
Regards, Edward Pizzarello
Sent from my iPhone
I agree, sometimes people get really worked up by things in the media but if we really knew every “bug” or every issue with every plane (or car) we would be shocked. Truth is, no large piece of equipment is perfect and go through a series of tweeks before they become really great and realiable