Dreamliner Fleet Grounded - Technical or Human Factors Issue?

Monday's ANA Dreamliner emergency landing and evacuation following a fire alarm in the battery compartment was the last event Boeing and operators of the 50 world most advanced airliner were expecting this week. After last week's multiple reports of technical failures including an on board fire on one of JAL's 787 on Boston, and a quiet weekend, they just wanted to re establish normal operations.

 

Maybe in the heat of last week's events FAA and NTSB officials rushed opinions and endorsed the airliner as safe just to help, or maybe they just wanted to make clear that the Dreamliner passed through an exhaustive certification process that ensures a safe operation. But Monday's event just made them look bad in the public opinion's eyes.

 

Facts are that those "dentition" events were not enough to ground the Dreamliner, but Monday's emergency showed a developing tendency that just couldn't be ignored and officials did what was supposed, ground the fleet until further investigation of those electrical problems.

Japanese operators ANA and JAL took that decision early in the day, maintaining their fleet on the ground as a safety precaution. This is a big decision for an airline, but shows that their Safety Management Systems works like a Swiss watch. They saw latent conditions and emerging safety hazards on their 787 operation, so they took a proactive measure and decided to protect passengers and crew from dangerous consequences, and at the same time they are also protecting their property and investment. That's how a modern airline is supposed to operate.

 

Now I wonder is if non Japanese or U.S. operators will take the same measure or will they continue normal operation of their Dreamliners. The technical flaws are there, maybe not mayor, but risky enough to develop a catastrophic result. At the end the final decision is in human hands, and this is one of those situations when a technical factor can be amplified by a human factor, and if we do nothing about it, it could end in a non desired condition.

 

Hope 787's technical problems are solve as soon as possible to restore normal operations and confidence of the public, but today grounding the fleet was the best decision to make, in my honest opinion.