B787 Experimental - siste nytt fra japan

Japan Sets More Rigorous Standards For Resumption Of 787 Flights. What Are Passengers To Think?

John Goglia, Contributor

First, the FAA had to be nudged by the Japanese into grounding the Boeing BA -0.53% 787 after two batteries dangerously overheated - with one actually catching fire - on two different Japanese airliners. Then there was criticism from the NTSB that the FAA's original certification of the 787 batteries did not meet minimum industry standards. Now, news that the Japanese transport ministry has taken the unusual step of issuing more stringent requirements for resumption of 787 flights. In addition to the changes mandated by the FAA for the APU battery, the battery charger and the battery enclosure, the Japanese are also requiring their airlines to install battery monitoring systems to monitor battery performance and to institute an inspection program to ensure the effectiveness of the battery changes. These additional precautions would only apply to JAL and ANA, and not to any other airlines flying 787s including United, the only US operator with a 787 fleet.

By ordering these additional steps, the Japanese authorities appear to be implying that Boeing and the FAA did not go far enough in addressing the problems that led to the 787's grounding, especially given the fact that the cause of the batteries' overheating has not been determined. As a long-time aviation safety advocate, it seems to me that the Japanese have taken a more deliberative approach to authorizing renewed flights. The additional steps mandated by the Japanese aviation authorities seem reasonable in light of the seriousness of the problem of a potential in-flight fire. And I couldn't help but notice that, in stark contrast to the FAA, the Japanese authorities waited for the conclusion of the NTSB's hearings on the 787 batteries to decide whether to lift their grounding order. As readers may recall, the FAA announced its acceptance of Boeing's fix a few days before the NTSB hearings even began. Unfortunately, there's no love lost between these two agencies (think FBI and CIA pre-9/11), but it would seem to me that in the interests of aviation safety and reassuring the public that the FAA could have at least made a pretense of wanting to hear what the Safety Board's hearings would reveal.

And now that the media has widely-reported that Japanese 787s will follow a stricter safety regimen, the flying public deserves an explanation from Boeing and the FAA why they did not mandate the same level of safety for US airliners.