On Mar 24, 6:55*pm, Joe Gwinn wrote:
In article , Larry Jaques





wrote:
On Sun, 24 Mar 2013 14:50:07 -0400, Joe Gwinn
wrote:

I just read the 18 March 2013 issue of Aviation Week. *On pages 28-29,
there are two articles on the 787 battery investigation results and
proposed fixes.

What caught my eye, and apparently that of the investigators, was that
there was never an all-up test of the 787 battery charging system with
the actual Yuasa-made production battery. *They were tested
independently, but there is no record of them ever being tested
together.

So, they're doing things like our CONgress critters do now, eh?
deep sigh *"We need to pass this bill so we can see what's in it."
said Nancy Pugnosy.

Well, the individual companies (for battery and for charger) no doubt
satisfied their respective contracts. *It's Boeing that should have
insisted of a full-up test, and it's the FAA that should also have
insisted that Boeing insist.

This reminds me more of the NASA screwup that caused the Hubble to be
nearsighted - there was never a full-up optical test on the ground.
The problem was that they had two null-corrector results. *The big
fancy null corrector said the optics were perfect, while the simple
crosscheck corrector said the optics were off. *Perkin-Elmer, the
optics house that made the mirrors, offered to do a full up test for
something like $20 million, but NASA declined, and chose to believe the
complex null corrector. *Oops.

Anyway, the fixes are basically to isolate the cells better so if one
self-destructs, it cannot take the other cells with it, venting of
smoke overboard, better electrical insulation all around, and a lot of
black-box data recording so they can figure out root cause next time.

Did they ever ask Elon Musk what he had in mind? *He offered to fix it
for them gratis.

No, they did not take Elon Musk up on it. *Nor would I have, were I in
charge. *The air safety crowd that does investigations is very good at
this stuff, and bone-crushingly thorough. *SpaceX simply hasn't the
throw weight to compete.

Joe Gwinn- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

It reminds me of the Challenger blowup.

And air safety crowd dropped the ball on this big time.

They are very lucky hundreds of lives and a Dreamliner weren't
destroyed in a ball of fire.

TMT