NTSB Testimony to the US Senate on safety, 787; FAA reviewing ETOPS

The Chair of the National Transportation Safety Board testified today before the US Senate. The 11-page testimony is here. Sen. Jay Rockefeller of the Commerce Committee had this to say. This news article contains this: The testimony, however,… Read More

Odds and Ends: Finding the “root cause;” The cliche about bad pennies

Finding the “Root Cause:” The world waits for the Boeing 787 to return to service, following a series of proposed “fixes” designed by Boeing in conjunction with its relevant suppliers and with help from Ford, General Motors and other… Read More

Odds and Ends: CSeries, 787, A320neo v 737 MAX, First vs Business; Southwest Air

CSeries Powers On, Compresses Schedule: Bombardier is racing toward its first flight. The company powered on the CS100 Flight Test Vehicle 1 yesterday and Jon Ostrower had this article about BBD compressing the schedule to stay on track… Read More

Odds and Ends: Independents like battery fix; 787 test flight today?; JAL and A350; PAL and 777X

Back to the 787 batteries: The Seattle Times had this story Saturday in which it talked with independent experts who like the battery fix proposed by Boeing. The Time also reported that the first of two test flights… Read More

NTSB releases preliminary report on JAL 787 incident

The factual findings are here. 48 PDF pages. The NTSB preamble to the Interim Report: The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) notes that the information discussed in this interim factual report is based on initial findings from the… Read More

Odds and Ends: To fly the 787 or not-conflicting reports; 787 schedule cancellations

To fly or not to fly: Yesterday there were several reports that the FAA was ready to allow Boeing begin test flights of the 787, only to be followed within hours that the FAA denied the reports. The… Read More

NTSB press briefing on 787-short circuit came first, then fire

The National Transportation Safety Board held its second full media briefing on the investigation of the Boeing 787 battery fire Jan. 9 aboard a Japan Air Lines aircraft at Boston. Deborah Hersman is chair of the NTSB. Following… Read More

Boeing knew of battery issues: NY Times; ~150 failures–Seattle Times

See this story in the New York Times. The Seattle Times reports that there have been nearly 150 battery failures. The Wall Street Journal has this article (subscription required). What’s the cost of the 787 grounding? See this… Read More

Airbus examines lithium battery safety, fire suppression

Note: The NTSB Sunday said it still doesn’t know what caused the lithium ion battery to catch fire on the JAL Boeing 787. Japan has shifted focus to a monitoring system, not the battery. The battery charger has… Read More

Odds and Ends: MIT–787 grounding to 2014; that’s speculation at this stage

MIT on 787 Grounding: MIT says the Boeing 787 might be grounded until 2014, according to this article in Forbes. But we caution against drawing conclusions. At this point, the MIT guy is giving his best judgment but… Read More