Hasta La Gadget!

It’s been three months since the FAA grounded all Boeing 787 Dreamliners due to multiple battery failures in several of the planes. However, progress has been made as the FAA has approved the battery design changes in the new aircraft, and will lift the flight ban on the Dreamliner sometime next week.

Before the FAA will lift the ban, however, they will be publishing a set of instructions for operators to follow in order to implement the design changes in all of the 787 Dreamliners currently out there. And while the FAA will lift ban sometime next week, this doesn’t necessarily mean that airlines will start flying the planes again, as they will have their own protocol as to when they decided to get the Dreamliners back up in the air.

As for the changes that operators will need to make, the FAA says that they will need to “install containment and venting systems for the main and auxiliary system batteries, and to replace the batteries and their chargers with modified components.” Once the changes are made to the planes, they’ll be free to fly again.

Plans for a new battery design began in February, with the first test flights following the incident occurring earlier that month. It was later announced that Airbus would go back to using the traditional nickel-cadmium batteries found in most planes after the manufacturer heard about Boeing’s fiasco with the new lithuim-ion batteries.

FAA approves Boeing 787 battery design changes is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
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It’s been a few weeks since the Boeing 787 successfully completed testing, but the FAA has finally weighed in on the proposed tweaks to the plane’s faulty lithium-ion batteries. Today the organization approved Boeing’s battery fix, which means the aircraft maker could soon end the three-month grounding of all Dreamliners. The real action will come next week, when the FAA will issue instructions for making changes to the 787s and — according to an official statement — “publish in the Federal Register the final directive that will allow the 787 to return to service.” Airlines operating the Dreamliner, including United and ANA, will be required to install containment and venting systems in addition to replacing the batteries with the new, modified components. This is certainly some good news for Boeing; these past few months haven’t exactly been easy on the company’s pocketbook (or reputation), but it still has plenty of work ahead in retrofitting its 50-strong fleet.

Filed under: Transportation

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Via: Reuters

Source: FAA

All American Airlines flights have been grounded following a system-wide computer outage across the United States. The outage reportedly affects the airline’s ability to connect to its reservation system, and has caused more than 700 flight cancellations so far. Many travelers could be screwed for the foreseeable future. More »

We reported on a story where a hacker claimed to have created an Android application that would be able to completely take over an aircraft. Hugo Teso, who is a security consultant and ex-commercial pilot, says his application would be able to make an aircraft “dance to his tune,” but the FAA has dismissed Teso’s claims today.

The FAA responded to Teso’s claims by saying the systems that are certified to be used on the flight decks are immune to the exploits that exist in a PC-based ACARS training software, which is what Teso tested his Android application on and not against systems inside of an actual aircraft. The FAA released a statement saying, The FAA has determined that the hacking technique described during a recent computer security conference does not pose a flight safety concern because it does not work on certified flight hardware.” (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Hacker Claims To Have Developed Android App That Can Hack Into Aircrafts, Mississippi Man Caught Double-Texting With 3-Year-Old, Drugs In His Vehicle,

It wouldn’t surprise us to learn that more than a few Boeing officials had their fingers crossed this morning in Everett, Washington. That’s because the 787 Dreamliner took to the skies for the first time since being grounded in an effort to demonstrate a proper fix to that nasty overheating issue that’s plagued the airliner’s battery. The test flight, known as a functional flight check, lasted approximately two hours and will give the folks at Boeing an opportunity to examine data from the outing in advance of the 787’s single certification flight — a process that’s otherwise known as one and done.

Update: This article originally stated that this is the first time the 787 Dreamliner has flown since being grounded, which is incorrect. Today’s test flight is the first time the 787 Dreamliner has flown since the FAA-approved battery fix has been in place.

Filed under: Transportation

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Source: Reuters, USA Today