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Japan eased safety standards ahead of Boeing 787 rollout, records show

26 Comments
By Mari Saito and Tim Kelly

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26 Comments
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Should have bought the Airbuses......

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Now THIS won't happen at Airbus. Making cheaper planes, at the expense of safety is indeed dirty. I would be interested exactly what standards were lowered and who did the risk assessment for this decision.

More exactly, how did they decided that it is simply cheaper to pay damages and settlements to victim's families, instead of using more money for making safer planes?

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Again for PROFIT, the lives of it's customers are worth very little.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Eased safety standards = took shortcuts. Look what this lead too.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

sa su ga!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@Ebisen Let us simply stick to: This has NOT YET happened at Airbus.

"Ultimately, it was a discussion of measures to lower operating costs for the airlines"

And if you really want to know the answer to your question : "More exactly, how did they decided that it is simply cheaper to pay damages and settlements to victim's families, instead of using more money for making safer planes?"

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Is anyone actually surprised by this?

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Trust me, if you guys really, really knew everything that goes on in the Aviation industry, NONE of you would get within a few feet of a plane, sad to say. I have friends that are pilots and while it is generally safe to fly, basically, the industry doesn't care, NOT one bit. Not trying to get off topic, but for example, the high Surcharge that they always tag on to your ticket, there is absolutely no reason why the industries have to over-charge that kind of money, they do it because they simply can. Where will you go? How else will you travel? The airline industries are a White collar mafia like organization, profits first and foremost and then way at the bottom, ours lives are the last thing to worry about. The pilots are often overworked, tired and poerwerless to recommend any proper and appropiate changes desperately needed. I love flying, but I despise the airline industry at my deepest core. Why anyone is NOT surprised about these new findings is more shocking to me.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

volland

This has NOT YET happened at Airbus.

Your point being??

And if you really want to know the answer to your question : "More exactly, how did they decided that it is simply cheaper to pay damages and settlements to victim's families, instead of using more money for making safer planes?"

Your point being again???

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

This is yet another case of Japanese companies and governmental departments fudging the books for profit. Japan's business ethics shining through once again. Nice!

1 ( +4 / -3 )

''If Boeing intentionally and politically puts the losses on to Japanese companies, the damage for Japan will be huge,'' said Isao Iijima, a political adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Oh noes, the gloves may be coming off and we may never find out what really caused the problem. Prepare to wag the dog, spin control about to take place. First overload with information, then confuse and once the dust settles you will see who loses.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

ANA and JAL are paying the price for being loyal to Boeing even if it was not at their customer's best interest. They buy 7XX airplanes even if there are better options, or equal ones, out in the market. That's ok if their choices are proven safe and sound and regulated, and that's now what happened after all. I definetely will search what plane I am flying in next 5 years. If it is a Boeing 787, no sir, thanks.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Is anyone surprised?

Rather, did anyone actually read the article.....despite the headline-

"here is no suggestion that easing regulatory standards contributed to the problems facing the Dreamliner, idled around the world after a string of malfunctions ranging from fuel leaks to battery meltdowns."

"Changes endorsed by the aviation group, including 40 revised safety guidelines, were presented as an effort to bring Japan into line with the framework of regulations in other markets, including the United States. "

"Three of the rule changes dealt with abbreviated testing and approval of pilots who had been cleared to fly the Boeing 777 and were preparing to switch to the 787. “It (787) is highly innovative and its safety is also advanced, but it’s also very similar in design to the 777”

In other words, pilots fully qualified on the 777 could make the change to the 787 with shorter training, focusing on the differences between the two aircraft. Why should they start out at zero and go through all the training again?

The aircraft comes with on-board diagnostics, but JAL and ANA still perform checks on them, even though it is not required.

"In 2007, the FAA cleared Boeing’s use of a potentially flammable battery in the Dreamliner because Boeing’s design was expected to contain any potential fire and divert smoke and fumes away from the passenger cabin."

I could go on, but life is short....

0 ( +2 / -2 )

To be fair, the article makes it clear that the relaxed regulations did not directly affect our current Dreamliner issues.

The fact of life is, regulations will ALWAYS be a compromise between safety and economics. "Safety is our #1 priority" is for academics and lobbyists, not real operators who actually have mouths to feed and things to run and fight against people that may be more on the side on economics than them. Regulators can side more on safety, but they also have to keep their nation's airlines competitive with other people. The pressure is always on to economize and that generally means less than maximum safety.

If we were on maximum safety, we will still be using 4-engined jets over the oceans. It is true that engine reliability has improved, but for any engine tech level, 4 engines will be safer than 2. But more engines is less economical, and further, 4 engines means a greater possibility of one of them developing a problem, which means having to take the plane off the line.

So there you go. Nothing to get TOO excited over...

0 ( +1 / -1 )

If we were on maximum safety, we will still be using 4-engined jets over the oceans. It is true that engine reliability has improved, but for any engine tech level, 4 engines will be safer than 2. But more engines is less economical, and further, 4 engines means a greater possibility of one of them developing a problem, which means having to take the plane off the line.

Not exactly true. In your example, even a 4-engine jet would be not safe if safety regulations were relaxed to favor contracts, in contrast to a 2-engine jet which was subject to stricter regulations.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

This is the same problem has tepco, reduce safety standards over profit

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Someone need to LEARN JAPANESE!

Who translated this as "ease" safety standards. The Japanese govenment decided to accept the tests done by the US, that is, to accept the US certification so that Boeing did not have to repeat all their testing here in Japan (expensive and time consuming and until now, always leading to the same result). If the US is lax, then Japan and the world will suffer.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

"Rather, did anyone actually read the article....."

Exactly what i thought.

Funny that there are not much comments on the other article at teh same time as this about how no "fault" was found with the battery.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

made-in-Japan technology?

You mean made-in-Japan parts?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I love reading all the excuses, the failure to address the questions and defer them to the party that deferred the questions to them, and hearing about how, "there's no evidence it contributed to the problems at hand" despite there being no proof it did not, etc. Bottom line is in order to increase their bottom line they cut corners, and sure enough there have been problems -- some that could have cost a lot of lives. My bet is that they'll 'ease the standards' (a euphemism for cutting corners if ever I've heard one) to get the fleet back in the air given how much they're losing.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

@888naff

Could you please link us to the article you've seen re. no fault found with the battery. I saw an article a day or two ago reporting that no fault had been found with the battery charger, but I haven't seen the one you refer to.

Thanks ..

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@smithinjapan The Japanese government accepted the US government's certification of the plane (as I have already explained). The problem is with the US, not Japan. Maybe Japan was naive in thinking that the US goverment certification people actually know what they are doing. Maybe the US doesn't know what it is doing.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I don't think a buyer (us) of the product cares how come the product (787) is defective so long as they get the replacement (fix the problem). The vendor on the other hand (boeing, jal, ana) would be interested, but as to why, I think they can keep it to themselves, as I can't think of a result (reason) that would cause me to not fault the vendor (boeing, jal, ana) since they still sold me a faulty product. Not to say I expect 0% defects

0 ( +0 / -0 )

If you believe this exists in the real world or not, is your problem...

Of course it exists in every day's world - just have a look around you. Do you know how many persons, killed in a k-car accident would have been saved by readily available technology in bigger cars (radars, airbags for the rear seats, active suspensions, etc, etc)? Just a little example, I have no problem with.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@smith

On political Issues, you and I are worlds apart, put on issues like this one, I agree 110%! People don't want to admit or accept that the airline industries first and foremost priority is not the safety of the people, it's the cold hard cash that they can profit or in repairs, save.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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