The Dreamliner’s Turbulent Takeoff

When a new airliner goes into service, travel fans clamor to be first on board. Airlines love to be first to fly a new jet too. It’s a great marketing tool, one reason United Airlines was the first U.S. carrier to take delivery of the twinaisle, threeclass, 250-seat Boeing 787 Dream liner, which is being touted for its creature comforts and fuel efficiency. The carrier is giving domestic passengers a chance to fly on the new plane, with flights from Houston to Los Angeles, Denver and Chicago–even though the Dreamliner is designed for long-haul service.

But breakdowns have broken the Dreamliner reverie: Japan’s aviation authorities grounded that nation’s 787 fleet temporarily after a battery alarm led to an emergency landing of an All Nippon Air ways flight on Jan. 16. The incident followed a fire in a lithium-ion battery aboard a parked Japan Airlines 787 in Boston and a fuel leak in another JAL Dreamliner readying for takeoff. After United found faulty wiring in one of its six Dreamliners this month, the Federal Aviation Administration launched an unprecedented review of an aircraft it had already certified.

Yet the FAA, not to mention Boeing, still vouches for the jet’s safety. Boeing says these are the typical glitches of a new aircraft, which is true. Then again, this is a new new aircraft. Its “more electric architecture,” in the words of Boeing’s chief project engineer, Mike Sinnett, replaces the traditional hydraulic systems that control things like wing surfaces. Six onboard electric generators run this architecture, but Boeing has built in enough redundancy to safely operate the jet with just one–in the unlikely event that five fail.

Another area of concern: Boeing has outsourced more pieces of the 787 than it has for its other jets, which makes the systems integration potentially more complicated. It’s a plugandplay aircraft.

So far the Dreamliner’s problems have been headaches as opposed to catastrophic structural failures. Even after Japan’s authorities acted, United planned to keep its 787s in service.

So should travelers avoid the Dream liner? Absent the recent news, you wouldn’t give much thought to the other planes operating on the same routes as United’s 787s. United also flies Boeing 737s, 757s and 767s as well as Airbus A319S and A320S to Chicago, Denver and LA. Or you could try American Airlines: on those routes, it relies on the newish but smallish 65-seat American Eagle Canadair 700 regional jet made by Bombardier. (Don’t even think of taking a suitcase on board one of these planes.) Statistically, regional commuter jets as a group are slightly less safe than large jets.

If the new plane makes you uncomfortable, you could choose an old one. Many of them have flown well beyond their projected life spans on the theory that regular maintenance has obviated issues like metal fatigue. United recently flew an A319 that, according to FlightAware.com is the same plane that in 2000 couldn’t extend its right main landing gear for touchdown at Newark. The pilot landed safely, and the damaged jet was repaired. United also flies 737s of various vintages. It’s fair to say that the 737 maybe the most reliable passenger airplane ever made. It’s also accurate to say that 737s have crashed 19 times in the U.S., with 299 fatalities, since 1970.

In any case, before long you can expect to encounter plenty of Dreamliners–assuming the FAA doesn’t find any major issues–and lots of other new planes too. Boeing has about 800 orders for the Dreamliner. According to airline consultant Boyd Group, 15,323 new jets will go into service by 2022. Those include Airbus’A32oneo as well as Boeing’s next-generation 737NG. The Russians have launched the Sukhoi Superjet, and the Chinese aren’t far behind. Statistically speaking, flying has never been safer, but to maintain that safety, jets need to improve, because the number of flights is increasing. The best way to do that is with new technology–but don’t expect it to be glitch-free.