787 won’t carry passengers without testing, analysis

Federal Aviation Administration Chief Michael Huerta said Wednesday that Boeing won’t get its 787 Dreamliners back in passenger service without extensive testing and recertification of its proposed fix for the jet’s lithium-ion battery problem.


But he said that FAA approval for Boeing to go ahead and implement its fix will only be the beginning of the process.


Huerta did not cite any potential time frame, but the requirement for extensive testing, analysis and re-engineering suggests at least weeks of work after Boeing gets the green light to proceed — which means it’s unlikely the 787s could be flying passengers again any sooner than late April or May.

Speaking to the House aviation subcommittee, Huerta spoke mostly on the impact of budget sequestration, but added remarks on the 787 in response to questions from ranking Democrat Rep. Rick Larsen, of Washington.

Huerta said that although GS Yuasa of Japan manufactured the battery to a design by French subcontractor Thales, “Boeing is stepping in and assuming responsibility for the design and testing” of a revamped battery system.

He said Boeing has proposed a “comprehensive plan” to cover “a handful of potential areas of probable cause,” all of which are within the battery.

He said Boeing’s proposed fixes provide mitigation of the impact of any overheating of the battery at three levels: re-engineering of the design to reduce the possibility of a cell overheating; other measures to stop any overheating in a single cell from spreading to adjacent cells; and finally design changes to contain any battery-wide incident so that the airplane is not endangered.

His description of Boeing’s proposed fix is in line with the details provided by multiple sources.

Earlier this month, the FAA granted Boeing permission to fly two flight tests to gather data needed for its fix. Huerta said Boeing hasn’t requested any further test flights.