The Boeing 787 Nightmares

Summary

• Dreamliner continues to be a financial success, but has had its problems.
• Boeing requested waivers to keep program on track.
• Boeing Dreamliner suffered from challenges partially caused by the revolutionary nature of the design.
• Whistleblower complaints date back to 2017, but also recently there seem to have been problems.
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With the second crash with the Boeing (NYSE:BA) 737 MAX, Boeing and the FAA have come under scrutiny, and this was further amplified as NY Times reported that the Boeing 787 has been plagued by shoddy production and weak oversight. Having followed the aerospace industry for years, I have witnessed that Boeing has faced challenges in all of its recent aircraft developments. I was working on a piece that looked at some of the challenges Boeing faced, however I found that the problems experienced in various phases of the Boeing 787 program have been so severe and so many that they are worthy of a stand-alone report.

Source: Airline Ratings

Issues before service-entry

Source: Seattle Times

The Boeing 787 currently is Boeing’s wide body cash cow and performance on the program has been impressive, as we noted in an earlier report. However, also the Boeing 787 has been coping with issues in the design and manufacturing, and the development of the aircraft has been all but smooth. In 2007, the maiden flight of the Boeing 787 was delayed due to a shortage of fasteners and incorrect installation, and that would push the first flight back even further in 2009. In 2010, during the flight test program, there was an electrical fire in the main cabin caused by tools (foreign object debris) left in the electrical bay. This fire triggered a temporary grounding of the test aircraft fleet and Boeing performed software and electrical modifications to the Dreamliner in the aftermath of the fire.

A long list of operational problems

After service entry, the problems weren’t over for Boeing as the auxiliary power unit (APU) suffered from rotor bow, the same phenomenon that gave Airbus (OTCPK:EADSF) and United Technologies (UTX) many problems with the geared turbofan. The bigger in-service

Analyst’s Disclosure:I am/we are long BA, EADSF, GE. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.