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| JAL B787 JA829J at Logan Airport, Boston |
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner has in the past week suffered an electrical fire that resulted in major mass media hoopla. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is now under the microscope that magnifies even minor events such as a brake sensor computer glitch.
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| Smoke from cargo compartment |
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner's high electrical power consumption system that uses Lithium ion batteries is something that is new on an airliner. Couple this to a computerized control system based on million lines of code makes the Boeing 787 Dreamliner pushing way outside the current airliner design envelope.
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| Electrical System Bay |
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| Charred Battery |
NTSB Pictures
Factors:
1. Long layover and unuse due to production problems - we know that electrical devices loss quality more to unuse than regular use
2. Aircraft teething problems
3. Discontinuous assembly - some procedures might have been missed or misapplied
4. Net connected world that even minor events such as minor windshield cracks get mass media exposure
Solutions:
1. Externalize engine start-up batteries to airport support, or redesign it as a jettisonable pack
2. More strict battery manufacture quality assurance - materials, assembly, quality control, maintenance
3. Review algorithms using the B787 Iron Bird
4. Heavier monitoring of the first 50 B787 built, specially those that were laid up for a long time and underwent repeated modifications
5. Fly the flight test Dreamliners as airliners to monitor aging process
3. Review algorithms using the B787 Iron Bird
4. Heavier monitoring of the first 50 B787 built, specially those that were laid up for a long time and underwent repeated modifications
5. Fly the flight test Dreamliners as airliners to monitor aging process
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