|
| When it came time for U.S. regulators to certify the safety
| of Boeing Co.'s 787 Dreamliner and its new technologies,
| they relied on the planemaker's engineers to oversee final
| tests and vouch for their company's work.
|
| The Federal Aviation Administration has operated that way
| for many years, even as government audits have found those
| efforts were sometimes poorly overseen and led to errors.
| The agency in 2005 began allowing Boeing and other
| manufacturers to pick the engineers, who previously were
| chosen by the FAA.
| ...
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20130131/BIZ/701319885

|
| And while its exciting to see everybody as energized as a
| certain battery bunny over questions about electrons and
| cathodes and battery management systems, I worry that when
| the headlines bounce from one potential "cause" to another,
| the real hazard will will fade from view. That real hazard
| as I see it is the manufacturer's reliance on the extremely
| volatile cobalt oxide flavor of litihum ion.
| ...
http://blog.seattlepi.com/flyinglessons/2013/01/29/dreamliner-use-of-hazardous-battery-like-wack-a-mole/

--bks