Worried about flying the Boeing’s dream liner? – Don’t, it will all work in the end by Tony Green

The images seen in the news recently of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner landing as a result of smoke emanating from lithium ion batteries is alarming indeed.

Upon initial glance this may seem like an abnormal occurrence. Please do not misinterpret my meaning; there is nothing normal about anything smoldering on a new airliner just minutes into its flight. However, the reality is every large piece of OEM equipment contains some glitches which need to be resolved in the field after its initial shipment from the factory.

I learned from my experience in the semiconductor industry working with OEM equipment used manufacture integrated chips on occasions there are windows of time where if a functional piece of machinery is not delivered to its end-user the window for delivery and, more importantly, implementation into the intended design will be lost for good.

Therefore, in many cases the equipment is made as bug-free as possible, ensuring the safety is not in question permitting several of its minor glitches are worked out later after delivery to its end-user.

The airplane manufacturing industry is no different in this regard. In fact, Airbus, Boeing’s main competitor in commercial aircraft has experienced similar concerns with its past shipments on new airplanes.

In the case of the Semiconductor equipment and the Airbus airlines the issues were able to be worked out in due time. My advice would be not to worry, about this temporary setback. The Dreamliner will be fine in the end as a result of the work and talents of various teams of engineers, technicians and managers.

For now though even, I cannot help but to think about whether I would hold off my initial flight until that point has been reached. Smoking lithium ion batteries are not something I would want to deal with until any issues are solved, not during ……