On Thu, 11 Oct 2007 02:01:04 GMT, Larry Dighera wrote:

One wonders how much the setbacks in Boeing's 787 program are a result
of the whistle-blowing former Boeing engineer's comments to the FAA
citing shortcuts and unsound engineering decisions for the 787.

There was skepticism in the Seattle press about Boeing meeting the 787
first-flight date far, far before the public comments by the former employee.
With the first airplane so close to completion, why would Boeing delay its
completion over this?

The prototype *is* an experimental category aircraft, after all; it's not like
it requires much more than cursory FAA approval. If the guy is right, the
program's screwed, but the aerodynamics probably wouldn't change much. The
company could get a lot of useful data by flying the prototype during any
redesign effort.

And if the guy is wrong, Boeing would take a huge loss in delaying the program
needlessly.

Ron Wanttaja