Here's what I don't understand. I have read that the 787 batteries had been failing non-catastrophically at some enormous rate prior to the catastrophic failures. I have not seen a single word about the failure analysis of these batteries. What's up with that? Surely A) Boeing must have been concerned that there was a deeper problem as soon as 4-5 batteries had to be swapped out and B) There must have been some clue as to what was going wrong and that the possibility of a catastrophic failure was probably much greater than originally predicted.
I'm an electrical engineer and small businessman in addition to being a private pilot. I design, build and sell electronic equipment that costs anywhere from USD 80 to USD 600. I can absolutely assure you that if my customers have more than one identical failure of my product, they let me know in no uncertain terms that the situation is unacceptable. And for the record, I agree and I get to the root of the problem. It's hard for me to fathom how Boeing could not take the same approach on a $150,000,000 aircraft.
Last edited by grumpyoldgeek; 16th Mar 2013 at 17:38.