To
assure proper installation of the new design, the FAA
will closely monitor modifications of the aircraft in
the U.S. fleet. The FAA will stage teams of inspectors
at the modification locations. Any return to service of
the modified 787 will only take place after the FAA
accepts the work. As the certifying authority, the FAA
will continue to support other authorities around the
world as they finalize their own acceptance procedures.
Boeing Chairman, President and CEO Jim McNerney said the
"FAA approval clears the way for us and the airlines to
begin the process of returning the 787 to flight with
continued confidence in the safety and reliability of
this game-changing new airplane. The promise of the 787
and the benefits it provides to airlines and their
passengers remain fully intact as we take this important
step forward with our customers and program partners."
The FAA's action will permit the return to service of
787s in the United States upon installation of the
improvements. For 787s based and modified outside the
United States, local regulatory authorities provide the
final approval on return to service.
Approval of the improved 787 battery system was granted
by the FAA after the agency conducted an extensive
review of certification tests.
The tests were designed to validate that
individual components of the battery, as well as its
integration with the charging system and a new
enclosure, all performed as expected during normal
operation and under failure conditions. Testing was
conducted under the supervision of the FAA over a
month-long period beginning in early March.
"The FAA set a high bar for our team and our solution,"
said McNerney. "We appreciate the diligence, expertise
and professionalism of the FAA's technical team and the
leadership of FAA Administrator Michael Huerta and
Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood throughout this
process.
Our shared commitment with global regulators and our
customers to safe, efficient and reliable airplanes has
helped make air travel the safest form of transportation
in the world today."
Boeing, in collaboration with its supplier partners and
in support of the investigations of the National
Transportation Safety Board and the Japan Transport
Safety Board, conducted extensive engineering analysis
and testing to develop a thorough understanding of the
factors that could have caused the 787's batteries to
fail and overheat in two incidents last January.
The team spent more than 100,000 hours developing
test plans, building test rigs, conducting tests and
analyzing the results to ensure the proposed solutions
met all requirements.
"Our team has worked tirelessly to develop a
comprehensive solution that fully satisfies the FAA and
its global counterparts, our customers and our own high
standards for safety and reliability," said Boeing
Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Ray Conner.
"Through the skill and dedication of the Boeing team and
our partners, we achieved that objective and made a
great airplane even better."
Boeing also engaged a team of more than a dozen battery
experts from across multiple industries, government,
academia and consumer safety to review and validate the
company's assumptions, findings, proposed solution and
test plan. The improved battery system
includes design changes to both prevent and isolate a
fault should it occur. In addition, improved production,
operating and testing processes have been implemented.
The new steel enclosure system is designed to keep any
level of battery overheating from affecting the airplane
or even being noticed by passengers.
"This is a comprehensive and permanent solution with
multiple layers of protection," said Conner.
"The ultimate layer of protection is the new
enclosure, which will ensure that even if a battery
fails, there is no impact to the airplane and no
possibility of fire. We have the right solution in hand,
and we are ready to go. "We are all very
grateful to our customers for their patience during the
past several months," said Conner. "We know it hasn't
been easy on them to have their 787s out of service and
their deliveries delayed. We look forward to helping
them get back into service as quickly as possible."
Boeing has deployed teams to locations around the world
to begin installing improved battery systems on 787s.
Kits with the parts needed for the new battery systems
are staged for shipment and new batteries also will be
shipped immediately. Teams have been assigned to
customer locations to install the new systems.
Airplanes will be modified in approximately the
order they were delivered.
"The Boeing team is ready to help get our customers'
787s back in the air where they belong," said Conner.
Boeing will also begin installing the changes on new
airplanes at the company's two 787 final-assembly
plants, with deliveries expected to resume in the
weeks ahead. Despite the disruption in deliveries
that began in January, Boeing expects to complete
all planned 2013 deliveries by the end of the year.
Boeing further expects that the 787 battery issue
will have no significant impact to its 2013
financial guidance.
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