All aboard the 787 Dreamliner! Boeing's Flying Titanic

Has boeing lost its mind?

It's called the 787 Dreamliner. It's been plagued with delays, but it's finally ready to fly customers within the lap of luxury.
I can understand how a country can win a contract, but Japan?!?! After so many years getting the 787 ready to roll, they're allowing them to all go to Japan so the planes can become irradiated and transport these particles to new places.

I don't know much about radiation, but I can't believe that Boeing would send its latest aero technology to a country saturated in these deadly particles.

The article goes on to say:

The plane is scheduled to be the first to carry commercial passengers in the 787 Dreamliner series, which has been plagued by delays but promises to revolutionize air travel.

"We are rolling out the first delivery airplane, the first 787. That's an amazing thing for those who have worked on the program five, six, seven years, here at Boeing and our partners around the world," said Scott Fancher, Boeing's vice president and general manager of the 787 program.

The plane is the first commercial airliner to be made mostly of carbon composites or super durable plastic. Those materials mean a lighter plane that Boeing says could use 20% less fuel than conventional airliners, making way for a more environmentally-friendly and cost effective aircraft option for airlines.

So far, according to Boeing, the manufacturer has more than 800 orders for the 787 Dreamliner, which has a list price of about $200 million per plane.

So, Boeing is spending $200mil per plane only to have it kept in a country riddled with radioactive fallout. This may be the dumbest business move ever.

And here's another smart business move:

The future of a new assembly plant in South Carolina is also in doubt. Boeing's machinist union accuses the manufacturer of putting the plant there rather than in Washington state to take advantage of South Carolina's weaker labor laws.

They're putting the manufacturing/assembly plant in an area where the labor laws are weak. Isn't this asking for a disaster and poor craftsmanship? How well are these planes going to be made if the workers are disgruntled, overworked, and frustrated by their poor working conditions?

"I would say the biggest challenge is as they head into this ramp up is making sure 787 is as profitable for themselves as they hope it will be for their customers," Ostrower said.

The airline will inaugurate the 787 Dreamliner on a special charter from Tokyo to Hong Kong this fall, the company said.

I don't know about anyone else's opinion, but I wouldn't board one of these planes after it had been sitting in Japan for even fifteen minutes. I wonder if the flight crew's uniforms will be hazmat/containment suits. Do the planes have built in geiger counters?

It's a shame that a plane made out of lead would never get into the air.

Source:
edition.cnn.com...

Originally posted by Afterthought
It's a shame that a plane made out of lead would never get into the air.

Just to sidetrack for a moment, its clear the technology shown here needs some more development...
Mythbusters lead balloon
(The thing lifts off near the end of the video. Start watching at 39 minutes.)

Are you going to avoid travelling on all existing aircraft that may have spent time in Japan? Unless you are able to check the logs of every aircraft you travel on you'll never know where that aircraft has been.

reply to post by SirLaughalot


Ah, yes. Let's discuss my personal opinion about flying instead of the article.

First, I'd never get on a 787 if it has been stationed and flown mainly in Japan.
Second, I'm boycotting the aero industry until they get rid of the molesters looking for home grown terrrorists.

I have no reason to fly. I can easily drive anywhere I need to go at this point in time.

reply to post by alfa1


Thanks for adding that video.
It's always interesting to see what could be when out-of-the-box thinking is put to the test.

I think they want to assemble in South Carolina because it's cheaper in the south. Weaker labor laws just mean cost of living and local/city taxes are down. To Washington State, an already poorly funded state, assembly in the south is a seemingly choice business move in my opinion.

Ah, yes. Let's discuss my personal opinion about flying instead of the article.

First, I'd never get on a 787 if it has been stationed and flown mainly in Japan.
Second, I'm boycotting the aero industry until they get rid of the molesters looking for home grown terrrorists.

I have no reason to fly. I can easily drive anywhere I need to go at this point in time.

I'd happily give up air travel, not because of radiation and terrorism, but because of all the hassle at airports when checking in and going through security. Unfortunately, I work overseas.

You know not much about Radiation!

All Planes are Radioactive,
because they are flying in the upper Atmosphere.

Pilots and Stewardesses have a limited amount of Journeys a year
and get the Boots very early in the case of a Pregnancy!
(Afaik in the first three Month)

Japan is as far as i know, think and wish not sooooooo Radioactive
that you need to fear a contamination just by boarding this Plane
or using any other Product made here!
(avoid the food only)

The EU do Radiation Checks of Japanese Products,
you can research via the EU Webpages!

Or read this

Originally posted by Human0815
You know not much about Radiation!

All Planes are Radioactive,
because they are flying in the upper Atmosphere.

sort of but not exactly. All planes are exposed to radiation as a result of high altitude. But the planes themselves never actually become radioactive. An analogy would be exposing food to radiation in a microwave, it cooks the food, but it's not radioactive and safe to eat (provided you didn't burn it or the container it was in). But yes, if you fly, you get exposed to radiation, in any country, not just Japan.

Japan is as far as i know, think and wish not sooooooo Radioactive
that you need to fear a contamination just by boarding this Plane
or using any other Product made here!
(avoid the food only)

Again, sort of. Avoiding contaminated food is certainly a good suggestion. This map shows the most contaminated areas in red:


There is a possibility the plane could be contaminated by flying through a radioactive steam plume coming from the reactors, before the big tents are erected, maybe next year or even late this year for the first one. I don't know but I would hope flights are avoiding flying through the radioactive plume. That's really the only thing that would worry me. I'm not that worried about flying on a plane that has been to Tokyo if it didn't fly through the radioactive steam plume from the failed nuclear plants.

reply to post by Arbitrageur


I finally flew the 787 a couple of months ago. What a great experience - I felt much less jetlag than usual. Had a great experience www.mightytravels.com...

miraclemaster
reply to post by Arbitrageur

 

I finally flew the 787 a couple of months ago. What a great experience - I felt much less jetlag than usual. Had a great experience www.mightytravels.com...

You say "flew" as in piloted it? ,or you were just a passenger? Can you elaborate a little more on the flight systems ?

Sounds like a death trap to me to honest ..lol

Humbly

LSH

LightningStrikesHere

miraclemaster
reply to post by Arbitrageur

 

I finally flew the 787 a couple of months ago. What a great experience - I felt much less jetlag than usual. Had a great experience www.mightytravels.com...

You say "flew" as in piloted it? ,or you were just a passenger? Can you elaborate a little more on the flight systems ?

Sounds like a death trap to me to honest ..lol

Humbly

LSH

I was just a passenger - not a pilot I kept watching the cockpit batteries though

Human0815
You know not much about Radiation!

All Planes are Radioactive,
because they are flying in the upper Atmosphere.

Just a short correction here: The planes aren't radioactive. There is a huge difference between something being radiated and being radioactive. It's very true that the radiation up there is quite high. I've taken my GammaScout with me and the plotted radiation curve is quite interesting. Especially because I left the device in my baggage and you can see a spike the moment the baggage got checked sending the GammaScout into overload mode. After boarding everything is normal as the plane itself is not radioactive and there are no more radioactive particles inside than in your car...
But you can see the radiation going up to about 20 time background as we were climbing up to normal flight level. So for the time up in the air you will get a pretty high dose as there is 10km atmospheric shielding missing.

The problem with planes build in Japan is something completely different as it's known that Japan 'recycles' some of their Fukushíma leftovers in the steel/aluminum they melt in their ovens. So the material itself gets radioactive to some point.
I just guess that this is not important as passengers on a plane just went there for the time they fly. And there they already have 20x more radiation.

originally posted by: Afterthought

I don't know about anyone else's opinion, but I wouldn't board one of these planes after it had been sitting in Japan for even fifteen minutes. I wonder if the flight crew's uniforms will be hazmat/containment suits. Do the planes have built in geiger counters?

This is quite, quite brilliant. I was hoping the OP was using satire but seems to be genuine.

a reply to: Alekto

You're exposed to a lot more on the flight to and from Tokyo than the plane would absorb sitting on the ground.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Alekto

You're exposed to a lot more on the flight to and from Tokyo than the plane would absorb sitting on the ground.

Indeed. What is about the Japan subforum that attracts these types?

a reply to: Alekto

The word "Radiation" seems to turn people's brains off and cause a panic reaction.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Indeed. You only have to read the OP's opening comment about 'not knowing much about radiation', before, as sure as night follows day, discussing just that. Very poorly, may I add.