A former employee Vince Weldon of Boeing claims that the new carbon-composite airframe
of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner may be unsafe. who had worked for
Boeing for 46 years claims in an interview with journalist Dan Rather that he
was fired in 2006 because he pointed out safety glitches
in relation to this new breakthrough technology to be used
widely in the construction of the Dreamliner (composite is to replace
aluminium in the body frame of the airliner
Advantages
of Design:
- Guarantee weight reduction (thus increased fuel efficiency and less environmental harm)
- Possibility of more humidity in the passenger cabin, which would reduce the effects of flying on the human body. At the time when he was laid off.
Risks
of its design:
- The brittle carbon-composite compounds based airframe would break much easier than the traditional, more flexible aluminium aircraft body in an emergency landing for example (more likely to shatter on any impact actually.
- If ignited and catching fire, it would omit poisonous and toxic gases and chemicals while burning,
- The fuselage is less resistant to lightnings while flying,
- Any damages are harder to see and visually locate.
Advantage
of conventional Alluminium aircraft:
Risks would reduce the chance
of survival in case of an accident involving any of the above described
situations.
In 2007 a McDonnel Douglas
airplane has broken in two and caught fire during an (emergency) landing in
Thailand, claiming 88 deaths and leaving 42 survivors who could escape the
burning airplane – so such a situation can happen with a traditionally built
aluminium aircraft as well unfortunately, but the risk of such a situation
largely increases by the usage of composite materials.
Who is this Vincent A. Weldon ?
Vincent A. Weldon is an American aerospace engineer,
having designed critical components for the Apollo moon mission, as well as the
Space Shuttle.
Weldon joined Boeing in
1960, in what was a 46-year career with the firm. He was first involved in the
wing design of the Boeing 727 airliner, a design that incorporated high-lift
devices such as triple-slotted flaps, which enabled the 727 to be one of the
first jet aircraft capable of operating from relatively short runways.
Vince Weldon's experience in
the use of composite materials led to him being asked by Boeing to research how
advanced composites could be used to build its next generation passenger
airliner, the 787 Dreamliner Weldon
told Boeing management that the carbon fiber-reinforced plastic material which
was being used to construct the Boeing 787 Dreamliner was unsafe, and
less safe than a conventional aluminium aircraft. Boeing fired Weldon in July
2006.
Weldon detailed his concerns about the 787 airliner in a
letter he wrote to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). He also
criticised the FAA's guidelines for composite airliners, saying they do not go
far enough to guarantee passenger safety on the 787.
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| Maximum portion of the structure is composite |
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