The Wall Street Journal reports on what happens when you put a key product under the Microscope: you find a lot of faults.
On Wednesday morning, Boeing said it had submitted a plan to the FAA for resolving production problems, a key step in restarting Dreamliner deliveries. Those could resume this summer if regulators approve the proposal, people familiar with the matter said.
The FAA will no longer haggle over whether Boeing can deliver 787s that diverge from agency-approved designs and federal regulations. “Before, we’d work it out,” said one government official familiar with the FAA’s Dreamliner work. Now, this official said, “We’re not negotiating.”
As someone who's flown on a number of the 787 Dreamliners both domestically and internationally, I'm shocked that Boeing was shipping passenger-carrying planes with faulty mechanical parts:
It isn’t that Boeing suddenly stopped making Dreamliners properly. It found previously unknown production problems that in many cases had introduced minor defects in planes already flying. Those led to more discoveries, which fueled more questions from regulators.
Good thing COVID largely grounded my travel plans.
