B787 Dreamliner grounded

[Umfriend]

I believe none of the almost 60 delivered are currently flying. How hard would it be to replace the batteries with a safer type (e.g. LiFePO4)? Not sure what that does for fuel leaks in engines though.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/21/travel/boeing-dreamliner/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner#Incidents

[dZeus]

I believe none of the almost 60 delivered are currently flying. How hard would it be to replace the batteries with a safer type (e.g. LiFePO4)? Not sure what that does for fuel leaks in engines though.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/21/travel/boeing-dreamliner/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_...iner#Incidents

I've read that the problems experienced by new air-planes in the last decade can often be traced down to the 'outsourcing production' paradigm (for price reasons), and that it becomes too complex to do a proper QC on all components when they are manufacturer by literally tens to hundreds of different companies per air-plane.

someone with more knowledge might chime in here and correct or complement this information.

[VJ]

Replacing the battery can be a big deal if it is e.g. a design error or general production error (e.g. outside of specifications). In case of a design error, a new design has to be made, tested and approved (which for aviation is though), in case of a production error, they have to first fix the production process. This is not your run of the mill AA battery.

Also, while the batteries are the major problem, the concerns are that there are too much problems (cracked window, brakes, ..) which are in completely separate components. Analysts were already surprised that Boeing managed to produce that many planes in a short time, and concerns are that shortcuts were made. Boeing has to prove this is not the case and that the other problems were isolated incidents, not structural problems. There are not enough planes out there yet to use statistical methods (1 plane in 60 with a problem vs. 1 plane in 1000 with a problem).

Airbus had a similar issue with the hairline cracks in the A380 wings, which also grounded the planes for a while. This truly was an Airbus problem (not outsourced). Then they also had an issue with a specific engine (the one Quantas uses, they wanted more power output of the engine than other airlines), which was a pure engine supplier problem.