Boeing's new 787 could be unsafe, Rather to report
 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Boeing Co's (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) new carbon-composite 787 Dreamliner plane may turn out to be unsafe and could lead to more deaths in crashes, according to a report by veteran journalist Dan Rather to be broadcast in the United States on Tuesday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsO...28645220070918

Boeing has said that this guy, who seems to be going to every news outlet in the U.S. with his story, was fired for threatening his supervisor. Let me say this: Boeing is not the type of company that would ignore the opinion of engineers it respects. It's more likely to listen to the opinion, quietly research and test the claims, and move on.

I'd like to add that composites are used all the time in aerospace and other types of engineered products. It's not like it's an all-new concept...it's just new for commercial airplanes.

The composites used in the 787 have already been undergoing testing and the plane's parts are now being tested. My understanding is that six different 787s will be built just to undergo tests, and you wouldn't believe the testing that they do to these planes.

I find it interesting that our country's media is so anxious to tear apart a great American company like Boeing, but they don't even question the European subsidized Airbus 380, which has been widely panned for all kinds of safety reasons by aerospace engineers and analysts. Do some Googling and you'll find all kinds of "inside reports" of things wrong with that plane, and let me tell you, I'm way more afraid of flying one of those blimps than I am a 787.

ETA: here are some of the reports on the Airbus plane I found in a quick search:
http://aero-defense.ihs.com/news/gao-safety-a380.htm
http://forum.airwise.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7376
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...6/ai_n13829937
http://www.airliners.net/discussions...d.main/129804/
http://wizbangblog.com/content/2005/...s-a380-whi.php
http://aeroblog.org/WordPress/?cat=10
http://www.airaccidentdigest.com/0507_story8.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A380 - Technical Concerns
http://www.ndt.net/news/2005/20050501a380.htm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/mai...5/ccairb15.xml
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/busine..._airbus17.html

I agree with you. Somewhere here there is an old thread about the Airbus which IIRC I started.

It is also interesting that I found this story as well as the story about DR suing CBS back to back with each other.

Yeah, I do, too.

Not that a major company couldn't or wouldn't cover up a major problem, but I have confidence that there has been enough research in this project to believe Boeing.

I totally agree with this post. I work for a defense contractor and I spend a considerable amount of time looking at carbon composites. I couldn't imagine a company like Boeing skimping on the necessary engineering testing.

Plus, the source has about the lowest possible amount of credibility, on the whole.

Seriously, Rather probably did great things back in 'Nam or whatever, but today he is completely irrelevant. I wouldn't believe him if he were telling me the soup of the day.