Major review confirms Dreamliner safety
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The Boeing 787 Dreamliner has passed a major review of its operational safety.
The fuel-efficient aircraft, which has endured a troubled existence since it was first launched in October 2012, has now been officially approved following a joint review of its critical systems conducted by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Boeing.
“Upon completing its review, coordinating observations, and conducting an analysis, the CSRT (Critical Systems Review Team) concluded the B787 meets its intended level of safety,” the review team said in a statement.
While the report did acknowledge that “design issues have occurred”, the review team said such problems were “to be expected in the development of a complex product such as a large airplane”.
The joint review was initiated in January 2013, after the global fleet of Dreamliners was grounded due to a series of problems with its lithium-ion battery units. During a four-month grounding period, Boeing developed a new battery case designed to alleviate any problems with overheating power units.
And the review team noted that Boeing has “identified the issues and initiated or fully implemented corrective actions”.
The president & CEO of Boeing’s commercial unit, Ray Conner, said he “welcomed” the review.
“The findings validate our confidence in both the design of the airplane and the disciplined process used to identify and correct in-service issues as they arise,” said Conner. “I am grateful for the hard work of the joint review team and for its recommendations, which will allow us to further improve our processes as we move forward.”
Despite the broad approval of the aircraft, the review did outline four recommended improvements for Boeing. Three of these focus on improving relations and work flow between Boeing and its suppliers, while the fourth encourages Boeing to continue working on aircraft development, prior to the entry of new models into service.
Boeing will launch the extended version of the Dreamliner, the B787-9, later this year, while the larger B787-10 is expected to debut in 2018.
The B787 was the world’s first major commercial aircraft to be built using composite materials, and has proven popular with airlines due to its fuel-efficiency.
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