After a long and painstaking investigation into that disaster, the NTSB established that the 747 had been blown apart not by a bomb or missile, as had originally been feared, but by an explosion in its center fuel tank. The 12,890-gallon tank had only 50 gallons of fuel in it and investigators concluded that fuel vapors mixing with oxygen in the vacant space above the fuel had been ignited by an electrical short circuit.The exact ignition source was never determined, and probably never will be. Since the crash the FAA has issued more than 200 directives aimed at preventing a similar disaster, including a system the agency itself developed in which oxygen in a tank is replaced with non-inflammable nitrogen gas. (The 747 fleet was never grounded as a result of the TWA crash.)
Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty John Hickey, FAA director of the Aircraft Certification Service, holds a new device commonly called a "air separator" that replaces oxygen in a aircraft fuel tank with nitrogen, preventing potential flammable vapors.Similarly, agency experts now believe, even if the NTSB investigation into the Dreamliner's batteries is prolonged or inconclusive, changes being proposed to its batteries and electrical system would be enough to ensure its safety. To be sure, if regulators do recertify the 787 on this basis, they are not asserting that the batteries would be fail-safe - simply that any future failures would be isolated and contained without impacting the airplane's critical systems.
John Goglia, a former NTSB official and now an authority on aviation safety with a deep knowledge of the TWA investigation, says that regulators would need to be assured that there was no risk that a problem originating with the batteries could escalate into a catastrophic failure. "Given that, this kind of solution makes sense," he said.In fact, agency experts argue that the fixes that will be made by Boeing could lead to the battery technology involved, lithium-ion, being judged much safer for use in airplanes. They point out that it has been 10 years since the original testing and certification of the batteries and that much more has been learned about how they behave in regular airline service - experience that will be reflected in the redesign of the batteries themselves, in the hardening of the boxes containing them, and in backup systems that monitor them.
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Pieces of damaged electrode coils from a battery cell that resulted in a fire aboard a Japan Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner airplane at Logan International Airport in Boston earlier this month are viewed inside an investigation lab at National Transportation Safety Board headquarters in Washington, D.C., on January 24.Boeing spokesman Marc Birtel told The Daily Beast: "We're encouraged by the progress being made to resolve the issue and return the 787 to flight."Boeing has been adamant that it will not abandon lithium-ion technology - even though its rival is doing so. Airbus is reverting to conventional, proven nickel-cadmium batteries for its competitor to the 787, the A350, due to fly for the first time this summer. Another former NTSB investigator, Gene Doub, takes issue with Boeing's decision. He told The Daily Beast: "Airbus did the right thing. In the case of the 787 they have a major problem that they can't really define. What are they going to do, go ahead and hope for the best?"
The 787 is the singlemost advanced and complex machine ever designed for everyday use by the public. The pressure on Boeing to find a fix is immense. Airlines due to receive Dreamliners this year are juggling their fleets to plug gaps left where the 787 was due to appear. United Airlines, the only U.S. airline flying the plane before it was grounded, has postponed plans to introduce direct flights between Denver and Tokyo until at least May. In addition to the several dozen 787s already delivered to airlines but grounded, a logjam of new 787s at Boeing plants is building up - and all of them will have to wait to be modified once the FAA approves changes. One estimate puts the cost to Boeing of the grounding at $1 billion.
In the end, the FAA answers to Ray LaHood, secretary of transportation, and LaHood is on record saying that the 787 will not fly again until he's satisfied that it's "1,000 percent safe." Last week, when Boeing executives presented their ideas for fixing the problems to the FAA in Washington, LaHood sent his deputy, John Porcari, to sit in on the meeting - a highly unusual step.
One more thing. Last year, the FAA proposed a fine of $13.6 million on Boeing, the second-largest penalty ever. The reason? Boeing had failed to meet a deadline to implement explosion-prevention devices in 747s, directly related to the loss of TWA 800.
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