It is not clear yet what the grounding by FAA and others means for the whole B787 program as nobody knows how long the grounding will last and what consequences will come out of the
investigations from FAA, NTSB and maybe other non-US authorities:
“The FAA will work with the manufacturer and carriers to develop a corrective action plan to allow the U.S. 787 fleet to resume operations as quickly and safely as possible.”
This could mean everything from days to check to batteries and cables to months when a redesign of the batteries or another type of batteries will be required.
In any case, it is very bad news for Boeing. Boeing just became the largest aircraft manufacturer again for the first time since 2002 and also took in more orders than Airbus for the first time since 2007. Customers of the Boeing 787 were happy – at least until last week, when a series of mostly little and not really worrisome incidences, but also the battery fire at JAL’s 787 in Boston happened.
Moreover, Boeing and the SPEEA are in a fight over a new contract, but the SPEEA engineers are badly needed to solve the issue(s) around the B787, as Scott Hamilton points out. He has also just published more thoughts about the impact of the grounding.
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