OT Another Dreamliner burns

[harryagain]

On the ground @ Heathrow.

[recyclebinned]

As far as I know they never did find the problem with the battery fires or if they did they never disclosed it, and NOBODY is taking them to task on it because all the idiots are too busy watching the Zimmerman trial on the news.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Should be name Nightmareliner. I'm not ready to fly on one just yet. Nor am I ready for the A380. I have a vision of something catastrophic happening to one of them. Like just falling apart from weight.

[nestork]

Boeing stock fell a whopping 6% as a result of the Heathrow fire. It's becoming abundantly clear that there's something about lithium battery technology that's new here and yet to be discovered. And, until it is, Boeing 787's with their lithium batteries for auxialliary power are going to be very very scary planes to own, and fly on.

[harryagain]

Apparently two more gone faulty in the last 24hrs. The first one had a severe fire. The others had other problems. Causes as yet unknown. Pity, nice aeroplane otherwise.

[trader4]

It's abundantly clear that you're jumping to conclusions. Nothing in any of the reports I've seen say this latest fire was related to the lithium batteries. AFAIK, those batteries are not located anywhere near the location of this new fire. Plus, they were re-designed into a fireproof enclosure.

And, until it is,

[Robert Green]

I've been tracking the lithium battery problem and one thing that's very disturbing is that they have not actually discovered the cause of the two battery fires and apparently may never know. They've just armored-up the battery enclosures and made some changes to the monitoring system to better detect fires that they seem to feel might still erupt.

A number of avionics experts on the sites I've visited are advising that safety-concious people avoid flying on the Dreamliner until it has built up a better track record. Even if this last fire isn't battery related, it's still helping to chip away at confidence in the new airliner. If I still flew, I'd avoid the Dreamliner. The DeHavilland Comet is proof that new materials may not perform as expected under real world conditions. A lot of people are making the comparison:

Even if, as some of the experts have surmised, it was a galley stove left on accidentally, that still implies that there are some serious problems still lurking. Ironically, the "auto shut-off stove" from another thread may apply to the Dreamliner. You would think that they would have designed an automated shutdown feature since a fire on a multi-million dollar plane can do a lot of damage, both to the plane and the builder's reputation.

As I recall the 777 and many other new models went through similar periods of "settling in." Like other complex human endeavors, many problems only reveal themselves well after the design phase has ended.

What I would like to know is how a broke-assed country like Ethiopia is doing with a Dreamliner? Is Boeing making $0 down, 0% loans to risky borrowers? I'd hate to see the US aircraft industry follow in the footsteps of Detroit.

[trader4]

Good grief. The Comet broke apart at altitude from major structural design flaws. Scores were killed in 3 major accidents. Only a loon would compare this to the Dreamliner. It's not unusual for a new airliner to have some problems. How about the A380 wing cracks for example? Is that a Comet too?

So now, which is it? Settling in or a Comet catastrophe?

Like other complex human endeavors, many problems only

They might if idiots like Obama keep screwing around with them. Remember what he did to them with the Dreamliner plant in SC? In fact, maybe it's his fault for the problems.

[The Daring Dufas]

Perhaps the batteries are made in China? ^_^

TDD

[Kurt Ullman]

Too much lead in the lithium batteries?

[Robert Green]

Made in Japan by YUASA.

[The Daring Dufas]

That's nice but you missed the irony and humor of the post, Kurt didn't. ^_^

TDD

[recyclebinned]

No, it?s sold by YUASA which has some of it?s products manufactured in China. Where these specific batteries are made is not disclosed or if it is I coul dn?t find it.

[recyclebinned]

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But as well as recommending the disabling of the transmitters on all Dreaml iners, the AAIB said the FAA and other regulatory authorities should conduc t a safety review of these devices where they are powered by lithium batter ies.

c6BfdB

[The Daring Dufas]

I was making a dig at The Chinese since a lot of batteries and solar panels manufactured in China are failing at a very high rate and causing a lot of grief for the alternative energy La La Land crowd. I still haven't been given a solar cell and windmill powered vehicle. ^_^

TDD

[Robert Green]

Anyone else getting the feeling that lithium batteries aren't playing well with modern aircraft and may not be "ready for prime time?" Who's in charge of safety at the FAA?

"Well, we don't know WHY the batteries burned, we'll just box 'em up better and vent the smoke and flames outside and pray the new containers don't somehow pressurize and explode!" Sure it will be dangerous to fly a "fly by wire" without backup power but it's been just too hard to figure out the cause of the problem."

"Disconnect all the safety transponders for safety reasons." Kafka would be proud!

Boeing's going to have to rename them "The Bad Dreams Liner."

[trader4]

As if the batteries were the only backup power source available. These planes have two independent engines capable of powering the essential flight controls, an APU, and an air driven generator that drops out into the air stream in the event it's necessary.

The most common source of commercial air disasters is human error, not mechanical failure. Witness what just happened in SF.