The Boeing 787 Hole Gets Deeper, Questions of Plane’s Safety

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
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Each time that Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) claims that some problem with its 787 Dreamliner is an anomaly, another problem occurs. With each new turn, the question of whether the 787 is safe for flight arises again. And other problems have occurred recently.

The most pressing issue with the aircraft now is its power panel and generators. The Wall Street Journal reports:

But the electrical system is more critical to the operation of the Dreamliner than on previous Boeing aircraft. The Dreamliner’s design eliminates a hot and hard-to-maintain system that transferred hot air from the engines to power many of the jet’s systems, in favor of a more heavily electrical design that powers such processes as starting the jet’s engines, deicing the wings and operating the cabin environmental system.

With each new report, both the flying public and carriers should become more skeptical about whether the 787’s issues are a sign of very severe flaws in the 787 design and assembly.

Airlines have become disenchanted, whether or note they believe that the plane’s needed repairs are a sign of deep design flaws.

The BBC reports:

The head of Qatar Airways has criticised Boeing over several manufacturing faults that have resulted in the grounding of one of its three 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

Qatar’s grounded 787 has electrical problems similar to those in a United flight that was recently forced to have an emergency landing.

The risk that Boeing faces cancellations from carriers, or the payments of penalties, has spiked sharply.

The greatest two risks to Boeing are that there will be a bad accident involving one of the planes, or that the FAA or a similar agency in another nation will force the 787 out of service for a long period.

Boeing continues to trumpet its place as the aerospace sector’s greatest innovator:

Boeing sponsored an Innovation Summit that featured a curated program of keynotes from industry and government leaders, “disruptor sessions” with cutting-edge innovators, and panel discussions focused on U.S. competitiveness, advanced manufacturing, and energy innovation.

Boeing is better off spending the money on eliminating flaws in the 787, before the plane has a really serious accident.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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