On Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:33:34 +0000, Bradley K. Sherman wrote:

NTSB hearing now in Q&A session. From Hersman's briefing:
o Not caused by mechanical impact on the battery o Not caused by
external short circuit o Event started in one cell (cell #6) and
spread to other cells.


Lithium-ion batteries are nefarious for
suddenly bursting into flame. Dell and Sony
lost a ****load of money because of flaming
laptops.

Nickel-metal-hydride batteries still exist and
are the logical, safer, replacement technology.
Don't hold quite as much energy per unit weight
though and don't have quite as long a service
life either. Still, if it means yer plane doesn't
go down in flames with 600 passengers ....


Now looking at the Boeing certification and testing in depth, with
particular attention to the special conditions imposed by FAA in 2007 on
use of Lithium-Ion batteries:
o Boeing estimated chance of smoke emission
at 1 event in 10,000,000 flight hours, however there were two events
in less than 100,000 hours.
o Boeing said that design of battery would
prevent cell-to-cell propagation but NTSB claims that is exactly
what would happend.

Interim factual report will be issued within 30 days. FAA makes the
calls on flying, not NTSB.

Boeing was way behind on their orders ... so they
slapped a lot of lipstick on the 787 and declared
it safe and ready for service. Supposed federal
oversight was, as usual, nearly non-existent.