FAA makes an ‘unprecedented’ announcement about Boeing
Shares of Boeing closed off about 2.5 percent today. Suboptimal, their aeronautical engineers might say. But really, not so bad given the news of the day. The Federal Aviation Administration came out today and said it’s going to do a full review, soup to nuts, of the new 787 Dreamliner. Design, manufacturing and assembly. It comes after some serious electrical problems and some not-as-serious other problems.
Andy Pasztor is a senior writer for the Wall Street Journal. He covers airline safety — and calls the FAA’s announcement “unprecedented.”
The FAA has not grounded the 787 Dreamliner — or called it “unsafe.” Pasztor says, “In this world of aviation, double checking something like this amounts to a huge black eye and of course raises questions among passengers and investors and customers about the reliability and safety of this plane.”
Boeing used a particularly high number of subcontractors in the manufacturing of the 787 Dreamliner. Pasztor says the FAA will take a close look at them as well.
The FAA shared the platform with Ray Conner, the president of Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
Pasztor explained, “Boeing fought vigorously to try to prevent the FAA from making this announcement and starting this review. When they lost that fight, I think they got as a gift, if you will, or a compromise that they would be able to be at the conference and make some statements.”
We asked if Pasztor would agree to fly on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner if given the chance–he said yes.
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