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FAA
rejects criticism of 787 fuselage testing
By Dominic Gates
The Federal Aviation Adminstration (FAA) has rejected suggestions from a
former Boeing engineer that it change the testing and certification
process proposed to prove that the 787 Dreamliner is as safe in a crash
landing as current airplanes.
In a formal response published in the Federal Register last week, the
FAA summarizes two critiques of its certification proposals from
unidentified sources. One of those is recognizable as referring to an
11-page letter submitted in July by Vince Weldon, formerly employed as a
high-level engineer and manager at Boeing's Phantom Works research unit.
Weldon's safety concerns were the basis for a cable TV news show last
month presented by former CBS anchor Dan Rather.
Weldon, who was fired in 2006 under disputed circumstances after 46
years at Boeing, argued that the 787 needs stiffer tests than those
Boeing has conducted. He asserted that its composite plastic structure
could shatter in a crash landing and burn with toxic fumes.
The FAA in June set out the terms for Boeing to prove that passengers in
its newest jet — built from an innovative composite plastic — would have
at least as good a chance of surviving a crash landing as they would in
today's metal airplanes.
Among other things, Weldon asked the FAA to conduct the tests, rather
than have Boeing do so under FAA observation.
The FAA response says, "We consider it more effective to establish the
standards and encourage (Boeing) to develop the most effective method of
compliance."
To make a more direct comparison between the crash performance of a
plastic fuselage versus a metal one, Weldon had called for the 787 tests
to mirror the details of a drop test done in 2000 on a 737 metal
fuselage section — dropping onto concrete a complete circular fuselage
section with stowbins overhead and instrumented crash-test dummies in
the seats.
"While there are merits in conducting a full-scale test, there are other
approaches using tests and analysis that can actually yield more data
than would a single test," the FAA responded.
And Weldon also called for the fuselage that is dropped to then be
subjected to a fire and tested for smoke penetration.
Regarding the fire hazard issue, which was also raised in a second
submission besides Weldon's, the FAA simply said that this concern is
being evaluated under a separate set of regulations before
certification.
Boeing has now completed three physical tests using just the lower half
of a 787 partial fuselage. The tests subjected it to slow crushing in a
vise, to a ramming from a steel plate and to a vertical drop from about
15 feet onto a steel plate.
Last month, Boeing said these tests have produced sufficient data to
validate the computer models it uses to simulate crashes.
Multiple crash scenarios will be run through the computer models over
the coming five or six months to prove the FAA's requirement that the
composite plastic fuslage is as safe as a metal one in a survivable
crash landing.
After he was terminated, Weldon alleged in a whistle-blower complaint
with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that
his firing was "retaliation for raising concerns throughout the last two
years of his employment about the crashworthiness of the 787." Boeing
told investigators Weldon was fired for threatening a supervisor.
In January, OSHA rejected Weldon's complaint on largely technical
grounds. |