By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
is an airline headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan. It is the flag carrier of Japan and its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport), as well as Nagoya's Chūbu Centrair International Airport and Osaka's Kansai International Airport. The airline and four of its subsidiaries (J-Air, JAL Express, JALways, and Japan Transocean Air) are members of the Oneworld airline alliance. - Source: Wikipedia
United Airlines is getting its Boeing 787s back in the air.
An investigation of a battery fire aboard a Boeing 787 shows that mechanics and firefighters made repeated, unsuccessful attempts to put out the blaze through smoke so thick they couldn't see the battery.
Despite a battery fire in one Boeing 787 Dreamliner and smoke in another, the batteries used to power the plane's electrical systems aren't necessarily unsafe — manufacturers just need to build in reliable safeguards, the nation's top aviation safety investigator said Wednesday.
At the same time the government certified Boeing's 787 Dreamliners as safe, federal rules barred the type of batteries used to power the airliner's electrical systems from being carried as cargo on passenger planes because of the fire risk.
Boeing's stock ticked up Wednesday after the aerospace giant reported record revenues in 2012 and forecast that it would step out from the shadow of its flagship Dreamliner 787 in the coming year.
Obama administration officials struggled Wednesday to defend their initial statements that the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is safe, while promising a transparent probe of mishaps involving the aircraft's batteries.
The battery that caught fire in the Japan Airlines 787 Dreamliner in Boston was not overcharged, but government investigators said Sunday there could still be problems with wiring or other charging components.
It's likely that burning lithium ion batteries on two Boeing 787 Dreamliners were caused by overcharging, aviation safety and battery experts said Friday, pointing to developments in the investigation of the Boeing incidents as well as a battery fire in a business jet more than a year ago.
Lithium batteries that can leak corrosive fluid and start fires have emerged as the chief safety concern involving Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, a problem that apparently is far more serious than government or company officials acknowledged less than a week ago.
Boeing has hit a rough patch with its once heralded Dreamliner 787 series that continues to attract unwanted attention, but it's nothing that will ground the company in the long run, analysts say.
The government stepped in Friday to assure the public that Boeing's new 787 "Dreamliner" is safe to fly, even as it launched a comprehensive review to find out what caused a fire, a fuel leak and other worrisome incidents this week.
In a stuffy room at the headquarters of the Tokyo Electric Power Co., many of the 250 Japanese journalists were furious at the executives lined up in crisp blue uniforms.
