Boeing finishes 787 testing, focus shifts to regulators
Baku, April 8(AZERTAC). With a successful flight on Friday, Boeing moved closer to proving that a revamped safety system can prevent batteries on its new 787 Dreamliner from catching fire or overheating, and getting back the plane into service.
Friday's test flight concludes testing after little more than three weeks, and moves the Dreamliner closer to resuming passenger flights, restarting jet deliveries, and stemming millions of dollars in losses that have piled up at airlines and Boeing since the jet was grounded more than two months ago.
The end of testing also turns attention from Boeing Co to regulators in the United States, Japan and Europe, who must decide whether the fix for the high-tech plane's lithium-ion batteries is safe.
Amid gusty winds, a LOT Polish airline plane rose from a runway near the Boeing factory just north of Seattle and soared out along the Pacific Coast, covering 755 miles in just under two hours before touching down at 12:28 pm Pacific Time (1928 GMT).
The jet, carrying test equipment and Federal Aviation Administration officials, flew a similar route to a test run March 25. Boeing pronounced the flight "straightforward" and "uneventful" after the jet returned to earth safely.
An FAA spokesperson has said the agency has been closely involved with the testing process "so data review may not take long."
However, she added that despite Boeing's "aggressive" testing schedule, "the FAA will work at its own pace."
Meanwhile, it remains unknown what caused two batteries to overheat on separate jets in January.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the battery that caught fire on a parked plane in Boston, will hold two public meetings this month to gather more information about lithium-battery technology and the assumptions Boeing and the FAA made in certifying the original battery system.
After the two battery failures, Boeing put more insulation in the battery, encased the battery in a steel box, changed the circuitry of the battery charger and added a titanium venting tube to expel heat and fumes outside the plane.
Despite the mounting cost, which is estimated at more than $500 million, Boeing is likely to weather the crisis without significant damage to its earnings or the long-term profitability of the plane.
The Dreamliner is designed for 50 years of production, and Boeing's accounting for its initial production years includes more than $120 billion in costs. On that scale, expenses from the grounding are "probably unobservable or not material," said Carter Copeland, an analyst at Barclays in New York. "Very few people are even talking about it."
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