More to say On What Was Said On The 787 Fix

On January 22, 2013 I said this:

The Boeing Fix That Is In A Fix   The reference Blog from LifnDrag

Cut and Paste below dotted line

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"The March 20th, is my 60 Day Self Imposed Deadline, For

The Fix and Fly

"The When" is now until the next 60 57 days?  Boeing will start flying the 787 within sixty fifty-seven days.  All hands are on deck with Boeing and its suppliers.  Money and time make a bad partner when the clock starts losing money. Suppliers have been served and Boeing engineering is reallocating to deal with this problem, not just over the week-end, but in a 24/7 manner.  Buy stock in Starbucks until this problem is solved. Next year’s Christmas bonuses are being earned at this time.

The press will report how the battery maker in Japan had an in-line production fault.  The people who knew how to put the battery together was on vacation and the replacement crew, who said they knew, hadn't put one together in a while. Where they used old procedures, and did not employ the new procedures, therefore caused the battery to have inherent faults resulting in fire.  That's my report before the findings come out from FAA."

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Now 60 days have almost passed and where are the Harold's of Boeing now saying"

Its Weeks now, and how many, are weeks?

No longer is Boeing staring at June as the time solution but the end of April.

Some say two weeks before the first ANA or Lot is back up in the air.

So I missed it by 30 days, stone me! Boeing intends to fly ANA at the end of April with the FAA sprinkling of documents over corporate heads.

Back on 1/22/2013 I believed Boeing would have its arms around the crises and would be back to flying in 60 days. I am not a corporate guy and don't know how fast auto pens, and rubber stamps operate in the modern era.

However, Boeing with the Airplane washed and tires shined, will show up in two weeks for its Spring prom date with the FAA. Tires screeching and a banner on the antenna. What is known, Boeing will pull up in about two weeks for its prom date. Will Boeing's date be ready, or stuck in some dressing room with final preparations?  It is customary for the guy to have to wait a few minutes, especially if the girl is somewhat reluctant in the first place? Yes to all those Questions. Just because the FAA doesn't use auto pen, or a rubber stamp anymore, add some waiting time, making the Boeing boy extremely impatient and stressed. However the flowers won't go stale. FAA wants fresh flowers and a good time in front of its other governing bodies, that are found around the world of Airplane proms.  Japan, and Europe need to be sufficiently envious of the FAA at this dance. Boeing will be on its best behavior with the nicest Airplane on the tarmac. Japan is planning to double up with Boeing after the dance at the fueling station for shakes and flying. Remember Boeing, have her back home flying before May AM!

777X Gets Its Engine

Tattoo of Fantasy Island Fame would let Ricardo  Montalbán, his boss know, of an arrival of "de plane, de plane."

Now the cry goes out once more "de engine, de engine" much to Rolls Royce's chagrin. This milestone means several important factors are assured on the 777X.  What goes on in Everett stays in Everett. Las Vegas is a place to fly to and Everett is a place to fly from using GE engines. The air will now clear for Paris. Here are my predictions in Paris.

The Swiss Army Knife Composite Wings On Display. Look for these signs in Paris.

Dolly Parton will announce the new set of GE-9X Cans at The Paris Airshow, then she is off to Cannes.

I think most of you are now getting the Paris Airshow picture at this point.

Boeing has to be ready for this splash, and will take no prisoners when wowing the attendees.  I'm guessing a wing or two will show-up flying in, inside a Dream-Lifter. Imagine that, a display for nothing but a wing next to the Swiss Army Knife display. It will actually actuate, up and down, and may be placed on a turn-table so it may articulate in circle between two other Boeing's near-by.  However I'm just Dreaming of what could be in the French Cheese Department at Paris. But I know Boeing is a much more refined bunch of Techno Nerds who talk in complete sentences at a boring pace. See Battery Seminar held in Japan in March or on the 14th-15th (dateline issue) for Techno types.

Here is a propitious Link

GE In, Rolls Out As Boeing Seeks 777X Approval

By Guy Norris, Aviation Week

I believe Boeing is rolling the 777X dice for the often repeated reasons.

·       Airbus is pretty much set on the A350 Design and configurations

• Boeing is prepared to be a un-A350 like frame, with its designs, where it will entice the traveling public on-board hoping the public will think, "a second story is so Victorian on an Airplane". 
• The hold-up has been waiting for technologies to settle-in for 777X.  Engines and wings signal a settlement has occurred and the night shift for CAD guys and gales have kicked into high gear. 
• R&D is now doing a new wing, embolden by the 787 wing experience. 
• Mike Carriker, Chief Test Pilot, Loves the Albatross wings that must fold while on land and sail relentlessly without effort. 

Battery solution will drive the magic show on the 777X inside. If a Battery solution is in place by the Paris Airshow, then people will see extra power-point shows on things "Airbus has not done with the A-350". It will be all about where the A-350 falls short and the 777 exceeds in a new form.  If the old 777 excels past the A-350-8, the new 777X may show that wasting another Euro, time, and effort chasing the Dreamliner and the 777X is will not benefit a European economic recovery.

Portfolio of LiftnDrag 777X Blogs: 

777X Getting-Its-Wings-Awaits-Engine

Tax Season Has Hit The 777X

The 777X Project Is Going Underground Call It Project X

Post Battery Technology For Dummies Conference

So much more is known about how much is not known and so more is done for the prevention of what the unknown has done, That what we will know is that Boeing has put lightening back in the bottle and will not let it out again.

Boeing has sufficiently built a lightning bottle to house the lightning.

Passengers need to know List:

• Batteries are not needed to technically fly or land the aircraft.
• The Boeing 787 has Plans A,B,C,D and E to fly the airplane without batteries. (4 generators and Ram air generator)
• A Battery Failure will never affect flight characteristic or landing.
• A battery is used for ground support operations and carried on all aircraft for that purpose
• The greatest danger for passengers is any fire and smoke on any aircraft

The Boeing Bottle Holding The Lightening:

Enclosure:

• A battery Fire cannot occur inside the Battery enclosure
• Titanium Use in critical areas where heat is present.
• Stainless Steel Sealed Case
• Special insulation between 8 electrical storage cells, prevents heat propagation
• Special Wiring insulation
• Special protection top, bottom and sides in the enclosure
• Special Dielectric Harnesses or frames, layered on cells
• Inert status by starving battery enclosure of oxygen (no fire, no fuel or oxygen)
• Electrolyte detection, and venting of heated gases overboard through exhaust tubes

Note: no longer a use of plastics, or flammable parts, as was in prior enclosures. Plastic is  a source of  fuel for fire.

Electrical Tweaking.

• Battery charger reprogrammed not allowing any voltage anomalies (spikes) to invade the Battery core,  causing shorts within Battery environment.
• Limits of Charging set on the high end and low end maintaining a more consistent and safe flow of power to and from the battery when charging and discharging occurs.
• More robust battering testing done at manufacturer, detecting battery faults using tighter standards.

http://www.boeingblogs.com/randy/       Click on link for full article

Borrowing from Randy's Blog VP Boeing Sales, Randy Tenseth

From Randy's Journal, VP Boeing



Randy's Journal, VP Boeing




Randy's Journal, VP Boeing


New titanium fixtures are being installed in the electronics equipment bays to ensure the housing is properly supported.

Battery Solution Initiative Watching Web Cast From JAPAN

Boeing President outlines proposal and its three layered solution.

Mike Sennett is “on”:

Talking points:

Notes taken as Q/A is live, I typed as fast as I could. Sorry for any gibberish notes.

• Design Teams and Context, Data are Items organized for review.
• Commitment to Safety, FAA and the History of Lessons Learned in place.
• Battery is a backup function only, generally a ground device and not critical for flight operations.
• 4 Electrical generators laid out in sequence with back-ups systems.
• Even with All generators, auxiliary power failures, a ram air backs up all emergency level power.
• Redundant and systems exist for all airplane big event failures.

A battery fire is critical of airplane in flight to the extent environmental and structural risks.

Lithium Ion Battery

• Matured and solid technology as of today.
• Many benefits for Lithium -Ion out performs other battery types.
• Provides Significant ground power
• Lightweight
• Long lasting

System Design

• Testing requires Solution offered, and Does not fail in tests
• Back-up system in the event of failure is covered by four layers of systems
• Interactive management from pilot and back to electronics bay.
• Redundancy in computers and displays for both Pilot and Co-pilot
• Co-pilot is redundant to pilot with his own set of equipment.
• No single failure would ever endanger a flight.

Japan and Boston Event

What happened, small flames in Boston, 3" size, lots of gases and on the other incident no fire just heat and venting.

Battery ventilated the cell to prevent overheating. Other cells vented is a protection mechanism as an electrolytic "smoke", not a fire spread just heat. Battery failed and airplane responded as predicted and as expected under an event. It protected the heat from electrolyte venting sending gases overboard. Damage limited to battery not to the airplane.

Thermal Runaway

A vague euphemistic term for battery overload and shorting event accelerating the rise in heat leading to possibility of fire, if elements are present such as oxygen or fuel in combination of heat.

Venting is a result of a thermal runaway event. Too much heat puts airplane at risk, the two separate events were not do to overcharging, which is the number one fear endangering the Boeing aircraft from the electronics bay. These two events did not have an overcharging problem. Boeing has not yet experienced an overcharging in the 787 ever! The 787 did not overcharge, a worst fear for this battery where it didn't happened, but systems handled the heat event.

Experts needed to increase layers of protection. Top 500 engineers added just for this problem, both inside and outside the company are teaming up over the last months for resolving what happened..

From:

• Auto manufacturing
• Electrical Engineering Labs
• University  institutional testing

Gained assurance from outside resources to help resolve problem 200,000 hours expended from all sources for the resolution and mitigation plan.

This is a representation of a process which to understand the battery problem. Hundreds of engineers are focused one mission where they look at ways of stabilizing the battery making risk assessments for all possible condition which can cause a Thermal Run Away.

Changes were made controlling higher and lower operating limits of the charger flow to the battery.

Battery changes in general:

• Venting preventing, isolating cells preventing the spreading of damage
• Cell change
• Case Change
• Wire Bundling
• Dielectric protection to stop venting and propagating heating to other cells nested in the enclosure.
• Charging circuitry wave link is gentler from charger.

Encasement prevents spread of fire, a number one risk.

Enclosure prevents ever having a fire in the first place and vents into enclosure sending gases overboard in a dedicated vent line.

A battery destruction does not endanger aircraft. The risk comes from spreading heat, and fire in the electronic bay from the battery. If smoke, fire, and heat are contained in the enclosure, the aircraft is not endangered during flight or landing on the ground.

Significant testing on enclosure is very good so far and is positive report after six weeks of testing.

Starvation of fire elements does not require and extinguisher system, contained heat and pressure is prevented from building up. After six weeks of testing on new design they have three layers of protection for the battery.

Three Layers

• Event prevention
• Propagation
• Plane protection.

Prioritizing fixes after approval:

• Fleet installation of flying customers,
• And then production aircraft.

Safety is important to the Comprehensive set of solutions for the battery.

787 is extremely safe airplane. Sennett puts his life on the 787 with his family

He demonstrates on a central chart on a fault tree, both likely or unlikely events, 80 potential things that could wrong placed into four categories. Investigative team comes from the field and works back inward from the event to the lab. the other team works from the lab out to the event taking a different perspective.

Two teams, one from assumptions and theories and other team field investigators following actual conditions, parts and performing systems, center on solution.

Conner back on the podium, Q&A

Test Flights & Venting When? Answer: Small amount air or venting releases electrolytic no oxygen no fire. Release reduces heat and no fire. More oxygen had only a small millisecond fires, instantaneously out.

Flights: Single flight to test battery in air.

Laboratory is extensive on the ground will be done in weeks

Commercial Back to Flight?  Apology made.

Commercial Airplane will be in the air in more than just weeks. Root cause appropriate correction to parts not known is an unknown root cause is factored over by robust improvement which will not allow this to occur. Try our best against a failure, enclosure allows airplane time to land. Giving Safe flight and landing having the enclosure.

Q: Change from enclosure and system eliminates no risk of fire?

A: Yes no chance of fire!

Confident in battery future with no battery failure. It it ever does, the plane will fly and then land safely. Thousands of fire event with battery failures have happened, with no loss with conventional batteries used in flights today.

End of note taking:

777X getting Its Wings Awaits Engine

Full Aviation Week Article

The article leads one to speculate about Board approval to proceed with the 777X project through 2019.

Don't speculate just surmise!

The engine thing is really dependent on over-all concept plans. This is a Bigger is Better Boeing concept and Roll-out. Not unlike an Airbus photo campaign, which neglects the techno talk, and expounds on the virtues of largeness. Engines keep returning to the conversation like a little child reminding an adult about its needs for a candy bar.

Engines, are not at the top of the Board's authority for granting list of things to announce.

However, GE goes forward in a pursuit of something big when comes to engines, while Rolls pursues a conservative neutral stance like a defensive back in American Football awaits the play before it reacts. I surmise big engines will be attached to something very big and something very complex, but maintaining a straight approach on proven technologies from Boeing's Flight Bag of tricks. No ground breaking progress here, just enhanced 777X design from its vast parts bin. This is a smart approach and will make a great use of the 777 frame. Don't make something all-new, use something new to make it all better.

To surmise is like Sherlock Holmes; make observations and deduce logical conclusions. In conclusion, Boeing is going to build something big with its just released technologies from other Airplane programs on the 777X.

When Technology Catches Up To The 787, It Will Be The Best Airplane

The 787 has had a bumpy ride throughout its progressions to its current state. For the time being it has made it through fire, smoke and delamination. If looking back on aviation history, one can site show stoppers like the The de Havilland Comet stopped an airline and its manufacturer from going forward

"DESCRIPTION: 
Certainly one of the most tragic stories of the jet age revolves around the unfortunate de Havilland Comet. Building on the British lead in jet engine technology following World War II, de Havilland developed and flew the first commercial jet aircraft in 1949, several years ahead of rival Boeing in America. Known as the D.H.106 Comet, the ailiner used four of the new de Havilland Ghost 50 turbojet engines mounted in the wing root leading edge of an otherwise fairly typical commercial airliner of the day.

Because it represented such a revolutionary advance in commercial travel, the Comet was put through an extensive series of test flights and certifications over the next three years. These 500 hours worth of flight crew training and proving flights included long overseas flights, tropical operations, and high altitude takeoffs.

Having successfully completed these tests with no apparent difficulties, launch customer BOAC received permission to begin commercial operations in early 1952. The first hint of trouble with the design came exactly one year later when a Comet mysteriously crashed shortly after takeoff on 2 May 1953. Two similar crashes in early 1954 forced British authorities to ground the entire fleet pending investigation. Over the following months, extensive tests were performed on the aircraft to determine what could have caused these mysterious accidents.

The answer finally came after a fuselage had been submerged in a tank of water and repeatedly pressurized and depressurized to represent repeated flight cycles. After several thousand of these cycles, fatigue cracks were found to be spreading from the square edges of the windows in the passenger cabin. These cracks would eventually reach a critical size where they would grow rapidly resulting in a catastrophic depressurization that would destroy an aircraft in flight.

All Comets then in service or under construction were either scrapped or modified with rounded-corner windows to correct the fatigue problem. Nevertheless, it took four years for the aircraft to be recertified for commercial service. By this time, the much improved Comet 4 series was available, equipped with better engines, greater fuel capacity for increased range, and a lengthened cabin for additional passengers.

However, the four year hiatus in Comet operations had driven most prospective customers to the rival Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8. These designs soon claimed the bulk of the market. Only about 90 Comets ever reached commercial operators, and most were removed from service by the early 1980s. A few additional aircraft were used by the military, but only the Nimrod, a Comet derivative, remains in use. Had the Comet not been plagued by a fatal design flaw, Britain might well still dominate commercial aviation today."

Where engineering and processing was incomplete on the Comet, the whole idea fell apart after it flew passengers. It lived up to its name, a bright light in the sky for a short time. I don't want to be presumptuous, since the 787 has just a little ways to go before before it reaches a life time achievement award for an aircraft. It is wise not run a comparison of the problems from the Dreamliner to The Comet for its more of a "Tale of Two Cities". Two different airplanes, two different problems, and two different results. Because of the Comet, the 787 will live on and save lives redundancy, reliability and innovation.  A safety and testing infrastructure has been built upon these types of stories all through aviation's history. As technologies expand, the measures taken are exponentially expanded.

As anxious as Boeing is for making the 787 fly again, they truly want to make it safe. Failure is not an option for any company. Each of its workers have that etched in the back of their own psychics when putting its frame making into practice. What is lost, maybe the cognitive dissonance subcontractors  have placed in its roles as suppliers. But they should eagerly embrace shared risks and responsibilities. A Boeing failure translates back to the supporting roles of subcontractors. Even though Boeing takes the big hit in failures, the little hit in failure for the subcontractor is equally devastating  This is not a blame game for the Battery issue. It is obvious that Japanese suppliers and operators are at the same level of angst over the battery problem as as Boeing is, and all other parts of this aircraft are under a monitoring scrutiny.

The Dreamliner is on track to be that  Dream realized. Because of the Comets found in Aviation, flight has always been experimental, even since before the Wright Brothers. Man has overcome common sense and chooses to fly. Man also drives cars at high speeds among thousands of cars going in multiple directions.  One flat tire or broken blinker and bam, not very good for anybody! I don't need to convince anyone of the risk of living. Back in the dark ages people died just standing still in their own homes, of starvation or the plague. Flight has become a controllable risk, especially as an aircraft ages in the process. A two year old walking along a flowing ditch is an uncontrollable risk. The 787 is almost two but has parental guidance firmly in its hand.

This brings us back to the battery and other things on the 787. Many governing conventions, have its rope around the 787; Boeing, FAA, and the Japanese governing bodies. The protocol is not to fly the 787 until all electrical safety risks are retired. I have more confidence in the process than before the battery fire. An assumption existed before the batteries fires, of not having a problem. A serious problem happened without a loss.  Now Boeing finds itself relieved, that the dream lives on, and the battery situation will be addressed soon, with full assurance. The passengers will have greater confidence as the bugs of any new aircraft are sorted out. It will not be a Comet burning out and it will remain a Dream living on.

FAA Approves Boeing's Plan Off The Chalk Board and Into The Lab

With erasers and chalk in hand, Boeing has passed a significant hurdle in moving the 787 Battery crises forward.  The lines circles and formulas on the black board has an FAA undiluted attention on a battery fix. How one knows from the press what this all means, is a vast speculation on a fix. I will take a Quick and Dirty note pad and take a stab at what I just read in the press.

Randy Tinseth VP Boeing Sales, Reports on his Blog:

Testing Our Solution

"1) We’ve improved design features of the battery to prevent faults from occurring and isolating any that do. That includes the addition of new thermal and electrical insulation materials and other changes.

2) We’ve enhanced production, operating and testing processes to ensure the highest levels of quality and performance of the battery and its components. That includes more stringent screening of battery cells prior to battery assembly. Operational improvements focus on tightening of the system’s voltage range.

3) In the unlikely event of a battery failure, we’ve introduced a new enclosure system that will keep any level of battery overheating from affecting the airplane or being noticed by passengers. A key feature ensures that no fire can develop in the enclosure or in the battery."

Herald Net

"Federal regulators on Tuesday approved the Boeing Co.'s plan to redesign 787 lithium-ion batteries, the first step in returning the grounded Dreamliner jet to passenger service.

Boeing will need to "conduct extensive testing and analysis" of the battery redesign, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement Tuesday.

"We are confident the plan we approved today includes all the right elements to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the battery system redesign," FAA Administrator Michael P. Huerta said in a statement.

The FAA grounded Boeing's 787 on Jan. 16 after lithium-ion batteries on two 787s failed. Ray Conner, president of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, presented the company's proposed solution to the FAA in late February.

On Tuesday, the FAA said Boeing's proposal includes "a redesign of the internal battery components to minimize initiation of a short circuit within the battery, better insulation of the cells and the addition of a new containment and venting system."

The FAA said Tuesday that it will allow limited test flights on two Boeing 787s to allow the company to verify that the battery redesign will work. In the meantime, the Jan. 16 grounding remains in effect."

My own bullet points solution for Airworthiness.

• Treat the systems and symptoms
• Isolate the Battery Risks from runaway heating. 
• Install fire walls
• Install battery program firewalls for active runaway heat management.

Bottom of the List Items not precluding airworthiness 

• Determine a root cause of battery runaway with FAA
• Remove any potential for battery destabilization in battery area.
• Robust Testing and implementing validating solutions. 

Ray Conner offers:

Seattle Times

In a Boeing statement, Conner outlined “three layers of improvements.”

• One involves redesign of the battery “to prevent faults from occurring and to isolate any that do.”
• Another involves “enhanced production, operating and testing processes” 

for the battery; reports earlier this month said battery supplier GS Yuasa had been advised by outside experts to tighten inspection and reject more batteries from its production line. to ensure the highest levels of quality and performance of the battery and its components.

• The third level of protection is an improved system for channeling smoke and volatile liquids out of the airplane “in the unlikely event of a battery failure,” said Conner. He said the “enclosure system .... will keep any level of battery overheating from affecting the airplane or being noticed by passengers.”

Not much different than what I suggested above, but very similar to what I have in mind in general. What is missing from the symptomatic treatment is not having a stated causal approach. However, symptoms or conditions may be the battery's culprit in all this mess. A runaway battery may need a stronger leash applied on it, from its own self destruction.  Keeping it together and managed is the possible solution from causing it to melt down.  The automobile has a radiator, antifreeze and a regulating thermostat for keeping it together. Maybe Boeing's solution is just a high tech version of this on the Lithium-Ion Battery. Going back to Ray Conner' and Randy Tinseth's, statements, suggest to me, that installing strong layers of insulating battery walls structure and gas /fire containment as part of the solution, suggest to me,  that the problem is inherent to the nature of the battery under certain situations or conditions, and can be controlled with added layers of prevention built into the system.  

The testing phase is testing a Boeing remedial solution, which will keep an inconsistent nature of the Lithium Ion battery in control similar to an over heating engine block on the race track. You employ measures and test those measures to make the battery and electrical system sound when battery heating fluctuations or anomalies occur, which would endanger a cell.  If that does occur, then steps are built in which isolates the runaway and not harming flight operations.

Because I Flounder Each Day I Turn To A Tried And True Parody

The paradoxical Boeing "Board" Game of Operations

The Boeing Board Game offers an tremendous opportunity to examine how an all electric game fails to sort out Boeing's overly saturated guesstimations of  its battery, providing you with an all electrical format, and the following sketches. It will illustrate how the Boeing  Board outlines its full recovery from the electrical purgatory, as it climbs out the bathroom tub.

Step one: What's connected and what's not connected, or putting it in the, "I can do it myself mode".

Step 2: I want to fix the All Electric Boeing Board Game using this  schematic from, the "All Electric Boeing Board"

The Board members have already jumped in, now its your turn to find where the lead foot is on the 787 project.

The Electrical, "No So Funny Bone" was engaged just recently after two months of grounding. The wish bone came online just last week with a team of problem solvers, from both Seattle and Japan.

Step 3: I warning you my 787 humor is down in the dumps and this is the best I came up with the answers available. I am moving in for the kill with printed out schematic instructions of solutions for the all electric Boeing Board.

Step 4: But I have to go through Boeing's PR department, which I don't mind at all, considering wine is served at all PR events.

So here in my brutal and coarse attempt for solving the All Electrical Boeing Board of Directors 787 problems It is found with this press release. The Book of PR Solutions outlines a handsome solution, coming in a size 2 (see above one more time).

Final Step:

It all depends on how low you want to go, attaching the power pack to the Boeing Board. Once done it will determine how much you able to solve the problem! Cheers!

The Reluctant Aeronaut, The FAA

Plot Summary forThe Reluctant Aeronaut FAA (1967) More at IMDbPro »

Don Knotts is Roy Fleming, a small town kiddie-ride operator who is deathly afraid of heights(FAA). After learning that his father has signed him up for the space program, Roy reluctantly heads for Houston, only to find out upon arriving that his job is a janitor, not an aeronaut  Anxious to live up to the expectations of his domineering father, Roy manages to keep up a facade of being an aeronaut to his family and friends. When Boeing decides to launch a lay person into the air to prove the worthiness of a new automated Boeing 787, Roy gets the chance to confront his fears.Written by Teresa E Tutt <tuttt@rpi.edu>

Changing it to  The Reluctant FAA, staring Don Knotts and that Airship the 787, with an overly robust Battery array, which melts your heart. This is not trivializing the FAA or Boeing's problem, but it points out the delicate dance between Boeing and the FAA.

New Script Writing:

She Said, "I have a solution."

He said, "Not so Fast"

She said, "We are bringing it to DC for show & Tell.

He Said, "not so fast."

She said, "whats wrong we spent 72 hours on a solution."

He said, "Not so fast"

What Boeing doesn't realize is they are talking to the "Reluctant Answering Machine" with the recorded message of , "Not so Fast".

Ray Conner has pronounce a Boeing immediate fix, plan of action, and solutions! When the FAA  has not even received its allotment of red pens and yellow markers due to budget sequestration. Sounds like sequestration is a personal problem for the FAA.

No one, I repeat, No one, wants to sign-off on a Boeing scheme, and them go down in history as the person who signed off on a Boeing Scheme. A problem Boeing needs to address. Until Boeing gets a plethora of FAA suits singing in the Boeing choir, even though the Boeing choir director says, "this new tune is marvelous", it is stalled. I've been in those kind choirs before when the Choir directer spends copious minutes pouring over musical score. Believing it to the most fantastic music ever conceived. Then the choir director foist this aberration on its choir, expecting common voices to sing an abstract musical, that sounds like crap!  The only one in the room getting excited is the director. The choir isn't ready and never will be ready until the music is singable for its skill level. The FAA is retracted in its hole and will not sign off on this symphonic, "Little Big Horn proposal", until more troops are assembled that will and can sign off other than Ray Conner pen.

Boeing has a solid work-around-able fix which could be a new production standard for its future use of its Lithium ion applications. Battery theory suggest that having a battery segregation blanket will prevent runaways from spreading. Has Boeing already solved battery runaway from starting? That is my primary question.  A fire extinguisher is fine, but a fire is still a concern. If Boeing has solved internal heat management for each of its batteries, then go fly until the next big model knocks you off the pedestal. 

The Trial And Error Battery Flow

Boeing is getting ready to propose a fix on its trial and error testing for its Ion-Lithium battery packs. A while back I mentioned a solution would be insulating layer between battery cells, which does not stop overheating in runaway situations but prevents the spread of fire or adjacent battery failures from a chain reaction heating problem.  This is one of the main temporary fixes, Boeing is now proposing to the FAA. The central battery failure instability has not specifically been resolved, but a temporary safety net is being establish as it suggest some kind Boeing omission of "we have not resolve the issue but have increased its safety significantly".

A recent article

Source: Boeing to propose 787 battery fix to FAA

02/21/2013 - 6:20 AM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) - Boeing has developed a plan that it intends to propose to federal regulators to temporarily fix problems with the 787 Dreamliner's batteries that have kept the planes on the ground for more than a month, a congressional official told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Ray Conner is expected to present the plan to Michael Huerta, head of the Federal Aviation Administration, in a meeting on Friday, the official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly.

Boeing Co. spokesman Marc Birtel said the company doesn't talk in advance about meetings with federal official.

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Boeing said to have redesigned battery ready for FAA

Enlarge

Bloomberg photo

Mike W. Thomas

Reporter-San Antonio Business Journal

Email  | Twitter

Boeing Co. is reportedly set to present regulators with a redesigned battery for its 787 Dreamliner that they hope will satisfy safety concerns.

The redesign will include insulation made of heat-resistant glass around each of the lithium-ion battery’s cells and a venting mechanism for fumes as well as a harder case to contain fires. Boeing is said to be developing kits so the new batteries can be easily swapped with the old ones in the same space.

A team of Boeing officials are set to meet with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration tomorrow. The FAA must approve any changes before they can occur. Boeing’s fleet of Dreamliner's have been grounded since Jan. 16 following a fire on a Japan Airlines Co. 787 parked in Boston the week before, and a battery fault that forced an emergency landing in Japan of a All Nippon Airways Co. jet.

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What one can follow here is the attempt by Boeing of placing a patch on the bigger problem, making the 787 safe to fly.

First thing Boeing is trying to establish is a quantification of the battery problem, followed by a permanent remedy or solution called a "fix". However, there are some show stopping points on the way to a "fix", as Boeing is still in a fix, and but it hasn't made significant strides of making it right when it comes to the actual battery instability. Boeing is faced with a dilemma that an electrical/battery patch makes the aircraft safe enough to fly, but does not have a permanent resolution on the battery to satisfy the FAA completely. Boeing made significant alterations to ensure thermal runaway problems from spreading but has not stopped a condition for thermal runaways from happening in the first place.

What Boeing is doing is buying time with safety margins adequate enough to fly the 787.  The current battery scenario is that, the aircraft flew safely 99.9 percent of the time when considering battery problems. FAA needs a 100% assurances from Boeing.  Boeing needs time to get it 100% right all the time for its batteries, but once again with improved systems, Boeing mitigates the risks of an event of thermal runaway. Boeing and FAA are chasing each other tails in a circle without either one making  progress of breaking the problem once and for-all. 

What is in play is that Boeing would like to show progress with this patch in test flights, they have made the Battery problem safe without solving the rare occurrence of thermal runaway.  They would like to present this condition as controlling step in its design. If a thermal runaway does occur, it does not put the aircraft in any kind of operational danger while in service.  It will have the ability to shut down a cell and protect the pack from any threat, and then upon service call plug and play a new battery into the pack if ever it did occur.  A plan like that would buy Boeing time to resolve the battery inconsistencies over the next six months.