FAA Announces They Are Returning The 787 To The Air

I thought I had published this last night, but obviously I was technically inept enough to save it as a draft.  Good news, I think, and I still expect ETOPS to be tweaked on the plane as well which is also likely the right decision.

Very shortly after the FAA disclosed it had received everything from Boeing that it needed in regards to testing their fix for the recent issues, it appears the FAA is ready to announce they are ending the grounding of the 787 on Friday.

On Wednesday I voiced my strong support for the FAA to act quickly now that they had all the info they needed.  I was pretty sure they would drag their feet.  I’m sure they weren’t listening to me, but it seems likely that they’ll move forward on returning the 787 to flight imminently.

That’s the right decision, IMO, if Boeing did everything they promised the FAA they were going to do.  There was no reason to delay making this decision.

I’m fairly certain there will be more bugs with the 787.  They could be more serious than this issue, though I doubt it.  The 787 is a new plane.  New planes have bugs to work out.  It’s also a remarkably different plane than anything else flying now, which leads to a whole new set of issues to solve.

Exactly 3 months ago I said that I’d be ready to hop back on the Dreamliner when it returned to the air.  I still feel the same way.  It’s a great plane that has changed the way people will travel.  Soon, it’ll be time for me to start looking for a flight on a 787.  Hope to see you there.

Related articles

• When Do We Get The Dreamliner Back? (pizzainmotion.com)
• FAA Approves Boeing 787 Certification Plan (pizzainmotion.com)