Boeing's 787 Dreamliner climbs during the Farnborough International Airshow in Hampshire, England.
/ Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images(MoneyWatch) Despite Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration on Friday announcing a plan to jointly review the 787 Dreamliner's critical systems, U.S. federal regulators continue to express confidence in the aircraft.
Industry experts say it is common for new aircraft models to roll off the assembly line with some glitches. The 787, the world's first major airliner made primarily of carbon composites, is also widely acknowledged to be state of the art. Among other attributes, the jet's light weight lets it conserve fuel and counter turbulence more efficiently than a standard liner.
CBS News aviation and safety expert Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger said that this week's series of technical problems for the Dreamliner -- an electrical fire and a fuel leak in Boston, along with an oil leak in Japan -- amount to normal "growing pains" for new aircraft.
"If you look at the history of aviation, decades ago new airplanes had many more issues and they often led to fatal results," said Sullenberger. "Now we catch these problems much earlier."
Following is a brief tour through the Dreamliner's missteps.
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- Testing batteries , beforehand is hard as the load changes with actual use . I agree with you that this plane induces allot of new items that could be a headache in repairs and grounding . As of the battery here it's job is to power the aircraft for thirty minutes if in case of a power outage they will be able to power the rudders and other control surfaces for a quick landing . This AUX unit uses some power in standby . Until this plane is fixed it's a accident waiting to happen . It's beyond growing pains when acid leaks this alone should be fix before letting into service . From my experience in electronic and backup batteries this is a hard problem to resolve without redesigning battery or circuit to work with each other . I can't see how this compares to other aircraft maybe in a very small sense of growing pains as this one has many more things to fail electronically the odds are against you. I don't agree on risking lives and hope that's not happening .
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- Many planes that were considered to be 'dogs' have ended up earning praise.
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- I think we can just be lucky that the fire and other issues were caught when the plane was on the ground. Who are we kidding? Any problem is a problem that can lead to a disaster. I have to wonder if Boeing over thought this airplane and maybe over used technology. Even if the problems don't lead to a serious risk to fliers. The question to me is if this 787 will cost more in repairs over shadowing any fuel savings?
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