Comment
Better safe than sorry
February 1st 2013
There is absolutely no doubt that the voluntary decision of All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines, and subsequently regulators in the U.S., Europe and India as well as other operators of the B787 Dreamliner to ground the fleet was correct. Read More »
For several days in January the global public was bombarded with headlines reporting incident after incident with the revolutionary new aircraft.
New generation lithium-ion batteries were overheating, a plane was making an emergency landing and fuel was leaking from another plane about to take off. It had become totally inappropriate to describe the events as “teething problems”. These were safety issues with the potential to lead to a serious accident.
As yet, it is unclear how long the fleet will be grounded. It could be weeks. It could be several months. But while Boeing will almost certainly be facing demands for more compensation from airlines operating almost brand new aircraft that can’t fly, the Seattle planemaker has already done what is right.
It has apologized both to its customers and their passengers and committed to working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in its review of the aircraft. What is important is that the review being conducted by the U.S. regulator is not simply going to look at individual incidents, which range from the battery problems and fuel leakages to a cracked windscreen and brake issues. It will examine the plane’s critical systems and will include a review of the design, manufacture and assembly of these systems. It is vital to determine if there are some fundamental problems in the manufacturing process of the B787.
The Dreamliner is a highly advanced, complex piece of machinery which went through the most robust and rigorous certification process in the history of the FAA. Why then, did none of these issues, particularly the battery problem, show up during tens of thousands of hours of flight testing? It is a question that must be answered.
Boeing has expressed total confidence in the B787’s design and production systems. Few in the industry doubt the issues will be resolved and that the Dreamliner will become part of aviation’s bright, high technology future.
With this plane the designers have ventured where no-one has gone. Every effort has to be made to prove beyond doubt they got it right before the B787 flies again.
