FAA Grounds 787s

[Cool Guys]

Please forgive me if I am having a senior moment but I see no ruling under the special conditions 1 to 9 stated in the document Federal Register, Volume 72 Issue 196 (Thursday, October 11, 2007) that states there must never be a fire in the Li batteries under any circumstance. There are rulings that state mechanisms to protect against the possibility of a fire and containment rulings in case these protections fail. Sure, is seems the ALPA was adamant that a battery fire is unacceptable under any situation but no where can I see that the FAA accepted this view and included it in the special conditions 1 to 9 stated later in the document. In my opinion the FAA could not regulate that there must never be a battery fire of any degree under any circumstance but if there is in fact such a ruling then I agree, Boeing should ditch the Li batteries.

I am just talking about the "Special Conditions" regulatory requirements here. I do agree that 2 incidents (1 fire and 1 smoke) in the space of 1 week is too frequent. Such occurrences should be very rare. I also agree that the public perception would not be very good if Boeing does not find the root cause.