Well, the hearing is currently ongoing...
from the FAA:
"THERE WAS A REQUIREMENT TO TEST THE BATTERY TO INDUCE THAT CATASTROPHIC THERMAL RUNAWAY FROM MR. SINNETT DESCRIBED TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS. WELL, AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH, RATHER THAN TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS, IS JUST DECIDE, IT IS CATASTROPHIC, WE MUST PREVENT IT. THERE IS NO NEED TO TEST A CATASTROPHIC CONDITION. YOU ALREADY HAVE ASSUMED IT'S CATASTROPHIC. YOU JUST PREVENT IT."
In a nutshell, it appears that the FAA doesnt care about testing, thermal runaway, or the cause..they assume that all of that is a catastrophic failure, so you dont even really need to test for any of this.
The catastrophic failure simply needs to be contained, hence the lifting of the flight restriction with a better box.
Both the FAA and Boeing said that neither event had an effect on the aircraft...
The venting of the EE bay was an odd response from Boeing. The system has to detect the smoke first (or in their explanation, the 'odor') then the system has to re-configure to vent to the outside, and this takes time to do, so there will be 'odor' into the aircraft.
Last edited by FlightPathOBN; 23rd Apr 2013 at 16:36.