verheating batteries
We have no way of knowing whether the cause of the current grounding of all 787s—lithium-ion batteries that overheat alarmingly—is a narrow, fixable manufacturing glitch or a serious design flaw that will put the whole enterprise in peril.
It’s true, as CEO James McNerny pointed out in a letter to Boeing staff on Friday, that “Since entering service 15 months ago, the 787 fleet has completed 18,000 flights and 50,000 flight hours with eight airlines, carrying more than 1,000,000 passengers safely to destinations around the world.” But all that will mean nothing unless and until Boeing can get to the root cause of those overheating Lithium-ion batteries.
What we do know is that the cost-cutting way that Boeing went about outsourcing both in the US and beyond did not include steps to mitigate or eliminate the predicted costs and risks that have already materialized