Aircraft
Boeing, FAA Describe 787 Battery Certification Process
Boeing 787 chief project engineer Michael Sinnett, right, answers questions during the National Transportation Safety Board hearing on April 23 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Bill Carey)
Boeing 787 chief project engineer Michael Sinnett, right, answers questions during the National Transportation Safety Board hearing on April 23 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Bill Carey)

U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) members and technical specialists questioned representatives of Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday about assumptions they made in determining the probability of lithium-ion batteries failing on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Boeing stood by those assumptions despite two incidents of malfunctioning lithium-ion batteries that led authorities to ground the worldwide 787 fleet in mid-January. “When an event like this happens early in the life of the fleet, it doesn’t automatically change our assumptions,” said Michael Sinnett, Boeing’s 787 chief project engineer.